RWBY: Time Paradox
by Jack54311
Summary: Cinder, at the height of her victory, is betrayed by Adam. In the future, one man goes back in time to stop her before she can carry out her plan, and succeeds. Years later, his son and his team accidentally go back in time, to right before the start of Volume 2. Will they find a way back? Will they want to? What about the timeline?
1. Chapter 1

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **This is my first fic, so please go easy on me. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, flames will be ignored and left to die from lack of fuel. This first chapter will mostly be setting up for the main story, so we really won't be seeing much of the main characters. Beware, as this chapter contains spoilers for Volume 3, although I changed a few things to better fit the story. I hope you enjoy, now on with the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY. That work of genius is owned by Roosterteeth and is the brainchild of the late Monty Oum. May he rest in peace.**

Chapter One:

"Do you believe in destiny?"

Cinder paused, seeming deep in thought. Of all the things Pyrrha could have said, she wasn't expecting this. Still, she didn't have to think to hard about her reply. After all, wasn't she destined to be the next Fall Maiden? Wasn't she destined to victory over Beacon, and all of Vale? The answer was obvious, really. Narrowing her eyes, she replied with one simple word.

"Yes." With that one simple word, she let loose the arrow she had aimed right at Pyrrha's heart. _Foolish girl, you really should've worn more armor,_ she thought. The arrow struck Pyrrha right in her chest, piercing her heart. For added measure, Cinder used her semblance to disintegrate her body. Meanwhile, Ruby arrived at the top of the tower they were on, too late to save her friend. Cinder noticed her out of the corner of her eye. _There she is,_ she thought. She was no fool. In her research on the Four Maidens, she had come across another legend, one about the ancient warriors with silver eyes. She knew that if she was to be truly victorious, then she would do well to eliminate this girl immediately.

Turning her attention to the young, red cloaked huntress in training, she immediately launched a full scale assault on her. Ruby, still in shock over the death of Pyrrha, barely had any time to dodge her attacks. Cinder knew that she couldn't let her awaken her hidden power, one granted only to those with silver eyes, so she kept pressing her attack. Ruby used her semblance to keep on the defensive, but she was hopelessly outclassed. Seeing that she was no match for Cinder, she tried to flee. Unfortunately for her, Cinder cut off her only escape.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cinder taunted. Ruby glared at her. With the power of the Fall Maiden, she was hopelessly outclassed, and she knew it. But one question weighed on her mind, above all else.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" demanded Ruby. Cinder smirked. Almost immediately after, she started laughing.

"Why? You want to know why? It's because of people like Ozpin, people like Ironwood, people like _you_! You all think you're so special, safe behind your walls, safe behind your laws, safe behind your huntsmen and huntresses! You all are living a lie, and you huntsmen and huntresses are prime examples of it! I'm simply exposing the lie, and showing everyone the truth! No one is safe, not in Vale, not in Atlas, not even in Beacon!" With that final word, Cinder summoned the full power of the Fall Maiden, and channeled it into her semblance, launching it into a wide ranging assault on her opponent. Ruby could only close her eyes as the attack overtook her, disintegrating every particle of her being. Soon, there remained nothing left of her. Cinder, seeing that she had won, summoned the Grimm Dragon and rode it onto the battlefield, eliminating all opposition. Nothing, and no one, could stand in her way.

Meanwhile, Adam had defeated both Blake and Yang, removing Yang's right arm up to her elbow in a single blow. He rallied together the all of White Fang soldiers he could find, and together they pressed their advantage. While the AI soldiers had been taken out of commission, thanks to Ruby, the combined assault of the White Fang and the Grimm was too much for the tired and weary defenders, who were already exhausted from having to fight a battle on three fronts.

 _This is all too easy,_ thought Adam, as he cut through human and faunus alike. While he took no joy in killing any faunus, he would not tolerate any opposition to his goal. The humans will pay for all of the suffering the faunus has been put through, he would see to that. As for any faunus who sided with the humans, they were just as guilty as the humans.

Suddenly, Adam found himself thinking of Blake. He could still see her face, wearing a mask of anger and sadness. Once, those emotions were directed towards the humans, or so he thought. _Blake, were you really for the humans all this time? Why?_ These questions haunted him as he could still see the anger, the sadness, and the revulsion on her face as she looked at him. Why? Why was she siding with the humans? Where had the determined warrior that he knew and loved gone? Ever since that day on the train, he had asked himself that same question over and over again. But it didn't matter anymore. The Blake he loved is dead. She died that day on the train. This Blake was nothing more than another traitor to their kind, and as such needed to be treated like one.

As he thought on these things, he noticed the very subject of his thoughts dragging herself along the ground with one arm. In her other, she was dragging the blonde human girl that tried to attack him. _Even in the end, you still try to help these humans. You truly are dead to me, traitor._ As he began to take aim at her with Blush, his rifle/sheath combo, he was suddenly struck in the side by a large war hammer. Turning to see what hit him, he saw an orange haired human bearing down on him, readying another strike with her hammer. He raised Wilt to deflect her attack, but he did not anticipate the strength of her strike. _She's much stronger than she looks. I would do well not to underestimate her._ Deciding to end this quickly, he sheathed his blade, preparing to finish her in a single draw. As she came in for another strike, he drew his blade, but before he could kill her he found his sword blocked by another blade. This sword was wielded by a blond human. Adam stepped back to better assess the situation. As he did, he noticed another human joining the first two, ready to face him. This human had black hair with a pink bang on one side. _These humans are really starting to annoy me,_ he thought. He raised Wilt, and began his attack.

Winter Shnee charged her way through the battlefield, eliminating any Grimm or White Fang soldiers in her path. To say that progress was slow would be an understatement. The White Fang all seemed to target her in particular whenever they saw her, simply because she was a Shnee. Inwardly, she cursed her father. Were it not for him, and his poor treatment of the Faunus, then maybe she wouldn't have such a big target on her. As she cut through her enemies she saw her little sister surrounded by several large Grimm. Quickly, she activated her semblance and, using a haste glyph, she dashed towards the nearest Grimm. With all of their attention focused on Weiss, they were slow to react. By the time they even realized she was there, the two sisters cut down the last of the Grimm.

"Where are the rest of your team?" she asked Weiss.

"Ruby went up on the tower to try to save Pyrrha from Cinder, I don't know where the others are," she replied. _Cinder, that name sounds familiar. Could that be the woman who brought the Grimm into Vale?_ But now was not the time for questions. Now was the time to fight, and survive.

"Come on, we need to find your team," Winter told her. Suddenly, they heard a roar come from the tower. Turning, they saw the large Grimm Dragon descending from the tower, with Cinder on its back.

"Cinder. But, that means, Pyrrha, and Ruby... no..." beside her, Weiss was beginning to grow pale, paler than she already was. Barely pulling her out of the way of a lunging Beowolf, she killed it and turned to her panicking sister.

"Weiss! Now is not the time! Focus on the matter at hand! Your leader is probably dead, your first priority should be to find the rest of your team and regroup! You told me that you were the second in command of your team. With your leader gone, you are now the leader. So act like one!" While her words were cold, they were in no way any less true. This was a battle, and in battle there is no room for grief, or hesitation, or any other emotion. Emotions got you killed. She had seen it before, fighting Grimm. She has seen it here, in this battle. She just had to rescue Weiss from a mere Beowolf, not even an Alpha, because her emotions were getting the best of her. Weiss knew it, too. She could see it in her eyes, along with the determination to make it through this battle.

"You're right. Thank you, Winter," and with those words, Weiss Shnee left to find the rest of her team.

As Weiss fought the Grimm and the White Fang, she kept a sharp eye out for Yang and Blake. Although she would never admit it, she had grown to be quite fond of Ruby. Sure, she was a real dolt at times, and she tended to be too impulsive for her liking, but even so there was just something about her. Perhaps it was her childlike innocence, or her willingness to look past the fault in others, or... _No, I cannot think of this right now. Winter is right, now is not the time. I cannot afford to have tears blur my vision, or grief cloud my mind. If we are going to survive this, then my emotions will just have to wait._ With renewed determination, she continued to fight. Eventually, she spotted Blake dragging an unconscious Yang, but, something was wrong. Blake was bleeding heavily from her side, and... no. No, this can't be right. Is that an arm she's carrying? And, that yellow gauntlet on it... one look at Yang confirmed her fears. Her right arm was missing up to her elbow. Blake saw Weiss, and together they continued to drag the unconscious Yang.

"What happened?" asked Weiss.

"I ran into Adam. We fought, and I lost. Yang tried to help, but..." she held up Yang's severed arm by way of reply.

"We need to get her to safety. She needs medical attention, and so do you." Blake looked like she wanted to argue, but it was obvious she wasn't fine. Instead, she just nodded, then asked the one question Weiss was dreading.

"Where's Ruby?" Weiss merely hung her head in reply. Blake was shocked, but her shock quickly gave way to sadness. Ruby, gone? This can't be happening. But now was not the time to dwell on that. Safety first, grief second.

Looking up, Weiss saw the rest of team JNPR fighting Adam, or who she assumed to be Adam. To say they weren't faring well would be an understatement. As she watched, he decapitated Nora, then stabbed Ren as he tried to attack him from behind. Jaune, surprisingly, was still standing. _It looks like all of those training sessions with Pyrrha are really paying off for him,_ Weiss thought. But as she watched, Jaune mistimed his block, and Adam capitalized on his mistake, cutting a deep gash in his side. Jaune tried to land a wild strike, but Adam just kicked him back. Raising his sword, Jaune ran at him, hoping to end the fight. Adam merely raised Blush and shot his hand. Jaune's sword flew out of his hand, spinning through the air. Too late, Weiss realized where it was heading. Before she could call out a warning, the sword planted itself in Yang's heart. She gasped once, then breathed her last. Weiss and Blake could only stare in shock at the now dead Yang in their arms. A second shot snapped them out of their stupor. They looked up in time to see Jaune fall down, a hole now in his skull. Adam sees them and takes aim once more. Fortunately, several Griffins landed in between Adam and the two remaining members of team RWBY. Seeing their chance, Weiss gave the one order she could think of.

"Run!" And run they did. Weiss never ran so hard in her life. Her heart was pounding, her chest hurt, but she dared not slow down for fear for her life. Blake was having a difficult time keeping up due to her injury, but Weiss pulled her alongside her, keeping her going. They could not afford to delay, they dared not even take the time to look behind them, for any delay meant death. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they saw the airship that was loading the wounded. Sun and Neptune were there, waving everyone through, as well as defending them from the occasional Grimm or White Fang soldier. The moment they saw the two huntresses, they ran over to help them. Sun was especially worried when he saw Blake, but they just waved of the boys questions, insisting they get into the airship.

As they were boarding, a shot rang out. Neptune, who had brought up the rear, suddenly went limp, revealing that he had taken a lethal hit. Sun cried out, but a second shot barely missed him, preventing him from going to him. One look showed that it was Adam firing at them. Several members of the White Fang came to aid him in firing at the survivors, and a few were killed. Finally, they managed to get the doors closed, and began to flee. A few airships were destroyed by Nevermores and Griffins, but most managed to escape. Weiss looked back one last time at Beacon, or what was left of it, and thought back to all that she had lost in the battle. Nearly everyone she had come to know in her time there is now dead. Her sister is still somewhere out there on the battlefield, Blake is badly wounded, and Neptune, the man she had fallen in love with... she could still see his glazed eyes in her mind, as he fell to the ground. She would never forgive Adam for killing him. Adam, leader of the White Fang, is the man responsible for the deaths of her friends. But Cinder, she was the one who came to Beacon, gained their trust, and killed Ruby and Pyrrha. Without Cinder, and her two cohorts Mercury and Emerald, none of this would've happened. _I swear, no matter how long it takes, you will pay, Cinder. You, and everyone who helped you._

Adam watched as the airships escaped out of their range of fire. A shame, as he had really wanted to kill that Shnee girl. But no matter. There would be time enough for that later. He gave the order to cease fire, and check the downed airships for survivors. Anyone lucky enough to survive the crash, as well as any Grimm, were to be executed on the spot.

"A bit harsh, don't you think?" said a sultry voice behind him. Turning, he saw the source to be Cinder. Flanking her, as always, were Mercury and Emerald. Although these three humans disgusted him, he did not let it show. _Best not to make them raise their guard. Not yet. Wait for your opportunity, then strike._

"Perhaps, but I will not allow them to escape. I want to send a message, so the whole world will see that we are the ones in power, now." Cinder seemed to smile a bit at that. But then, she frowned.

"What of those that escaped? What will you do about them?" _Tell her what she wants to hear. Put her at ease, make her lower her guard._

"Let them go for now. When others hear how powerful we are, they will be afraid. But the survivors on the ground must die. We can't appear too merciful, can we?" That answer seemed to satisfy Cinder. Finally she seemed to relax a little, and began to smile.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Now that I possess the full power of the Fall Maiden, I am completely unstoppable! Today is just the beginning. Soon, all of Remnant shall be bowing at my feet!" _Yes, that's right, go ahead and gloat, human. Lower your guard for me._

"You're right. Today is just the beginning." Quickly, he spun on his heel, unsheathing Wilt as he did so. Cinder, completely off guard, was cut down in one strike. The other members of the White Fang, taking their cue, killed Mercury and Emerald before they could react. Re-sheathing his blade, he gave one last glance to Cinder's body.

"Today is the beginning for the White Fang. Today, we start to take our rightful place as rulers of Remnant. The humans will pay for all of the suffering the faunus have endured. But that future doesn't include you." With that said, he ordered his troops to prepare to leave. They had preperations to make before they mounted their assault on the rest of Vale. But it was only a matter of time before all of Remnant was under their control. For the first time in what felt like years, Adam allowed himself a small smile.

 **I know, I know, I'm a monster. Here we are, still recovering from the shock of Volume 3, and I go and make things worse by killing nearly everyone! But trust me when I say that it's important. This is a story about time travel, remember? Before I go, let me make a couple of things clear. Since we know almost nothing about Salem, other than she has the same voice actress as Cortana (possible crossover? Hmm), I will not be including her in this story. For the purposes of this story, Cinder is the mastermind, as we were led to believe in Volumes 1 and 2. Also, I know I was a little light on character description. Since this chapter contains several spoilers for the end of Volume 3, I didn't bother, as I'm assuming that most people who decided to go ahead and read this have already seen it. If you haven't, or if you are new to RWBY, then I apologize. I will be adding more description in the next chapter, as well as introducing the main characters of this story. If you'd like, please leave a review, as I would really like to know what you think of this story so far. Remember, I don't know where to improve if nobody tells me!**


	2. Chapter 2

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Hey guys and girls, I'm back! In only a day after posting my very first chapter I've already gotten some positive feedback! I'm super excited! I want to give a very big thank you to CyberFan479 and Railsaraki3 for following my story, as well as bonus points to Railsaraki3 for doing everything possible to inflate my ego. This chapter is going to start off pretty dark, as it focuses on my first OC, who comes from the future of chapter one, and it will finish setting up for the main story, which starts next chapter. This author's note is getting pretty long, so just read the author's note at the bottom to clear up any questions about John's semblance. Now on with the story!**

 **I do not own RWBY. If I did, Volume 3 wouldn't have ended the way it did, and Arkos and Renora would definitely be a thing.**

Chapter Two:

The city of Vale. It was once a beautiful place, teaming with life, and activity, and all of the normal signs of a busy and prosperous city. Now, instead, it is a city of fear, with White Fang soldiers patrolling the streets, public executions are a daily thing, and Grimm attacks are frequent. The humans who live there live in constant fear, as there is at least one human executed every day, as an "example" to others. Any faunus suspected of giving any kind of aid to a human, is brutally beaten before being publicly executed, and that's if they're lucky. More often than not, these faunus "traitors" are tortured, or worse, to the point that death itself is a mercy. This is Vale, under the leadership of Adam Taurus.

Johnathon Flint, grandson of Weiss Shnee, was growing up in a cave deep in the heart of the Emerald forest. While Weiss had been reluctant to come here at first, since it was so close to Vale, the survivors of the Fall of Vale, as it had come to be known to the survivors, had agreed that it was best if they never stay in one place for too long. It had been some time before Weiss had opened her heart to love again, but it eventually happened. The 5'3" woman with white hair and ice blue eyes was strong for someone in her early 50's, but then again, one had to be to endure the life she had. Even so, her husband, Richard, had a way of making her feel like she didn't always have to be the strong one. Perhaps it was his eyes, a warm green that held the serenity of a forest. Or maybe it was his smile, like he was always aware of some private joke that only he knew. He was even skilled in combat, being one of the combatants at the Vytal Festival tournament that fateful day. He excelled in the use of a katana, and had mastered an ancient and nearly forgotten style of combat that allowed it's user to take on many opponents at once. He referred to it as the Hiten Mitsurugi style, and he was already teaching John how to use it. Also, he was one of the few people to have a generational semblance, meaning that his semblance is passed down from parent to child, instead of being unique to the individual. His semblance was the ability to create a clone opposite of his position, meaning that his clone always faced him, and mirrored his movements exactly.

The two eventually had a son, and imagine their surprise when his semblance didn't match either of theirs! Instead of glyphs, or mirror clones, he had the ability to mimic his mother's haste glyph, only without actually summoning one. His ability to suddenly be able to glide at high speeds was useful for scouting new hideouts. He eventually fell in love and married Maria, a girl who, surprisingly, also had a generational semblance, the ability to create portals. In time, she gave birth to John.

Eight year old John was wandering through the forest with his best friend Rachel. Rachel was a young cat faunus and the granddaughter of Blake Belladonna. The 5'6" black haired cat faunus had eventually married Sun Wukong, a tanned 6' blond haired monkey faunus. Unlike her grandmother, Rachel preferred to let her cat ears be seen. Rachel had dark hair like her mother and grandmother, and was currently wearing a jean skirt and a plain black tee shirt. John was wearing a black tee shirt as well, only he wore a light blue jacket over it, and wore jean pants. He had dark hair like his grandfather, but he had a single lock of snow white hair near his temple.

The two friends knew they weren't supposed to go wondering without adults. But all of the adults were being boring, their attention focused on some boring looking designs and talking about boring plans for some weird machine. All they would say whenever asked to play was "not right now, maybe later" or "I'm very busy right now, can't you ask someone else?" So, left on their own, they took off for a bit of adventure. They had seen the Grimm a few times, so they swiped a couple of daggers that someone had left lying around, thinking that they could take on any Grimm they encountered, and they knew nothing of the White Fang, as they were considered too young to know the truth yet. So, without fear, they wandered through the forest, talking, laughing, and playing as young children so often tend to do.

It was by some miracle that they did not encounter any Grimm. They eventually came upon the outskirts of Vale, near a section of wall that was unguarded. Seeing a tree growing near the wall, they noticed a branch extending close enough to the wall that they could use it to get over and explore the city. Deciding that this would be a wonderful adventure, they climbed over the wall and started wondering about the city. It didn't take long for them to notice that something wasn't right. Everyone kept staring at them in shock, or horror, or a mixture of the two. Nobody would come near them, and whenever they tried to approach someone, they were always chased away. Just as they decided to go back home, where at least they were accepted, some strange men in uniforms and Grimm masks noticed them, and began to chase them.

They ran from these strange men, going as fast as their legs could carry them. Just as they were turning a corner, John slipped, causing him to fall. Rachel helped him up, but they lost valuable time. Quickly, they looked around, before noticing a window that someone had left open. They were too short to reach it, so Rachel decided to help John up, with the plan being for him to then pull her up. Just as he made it inside, the White Fang soldiers came around the corner and noticed Rachel. Before John could lean out of the window to help her up, he was grabbed from behind by a pair of strong, elderly hands. The elderly hands pulled him back, one hand covering his mouth, the other grabbing his dagger and holding it to his throat. The message was clear, _make one wrong move, make any noise, and you're dead._ Meanwhile, the soldiers had reached Rachel.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little traitor, hiding a human? Where did you put the human, traitor?"

Rachel was confused. "Traitor? I don't understand. Who am I betraying?" she asked. The soldiers just gaped at her, before growing angry.

"What do you mean you don't know? By helping humans, you're a traitor to your own kind! For years, the humans have oppressed the Faunus! That's why they should never be helped!" the soldier ranted. Rachel was confused. Sure, some of the people back home could be rude to her and her family, but most of them were nice. Plus, she and Jack were best friends, and he's human. Even Ms. Weiss was usually pretty nice, in her own way, although she could be a bit stuffy at times. What these soldiers were saying just didn't make sense.

"The humans I know are pretty nice. Can I go now?" she asked, hoping they would just let her go.

"No, you're staying here. You two, search everywhere for the human boy!" the first soldier ordered.

"Yes sir!" With that reply, the two soldiers began to search the surrounding homes for John. Meanwhile, the elderly woman holding John slowly began to back up, keeping the dagger blade near his throat, as a warning to stay silent. After a moment, she activated a hidden panel in the wall behind them. John could faintly hear a section of the wall slide in on itself. She backed into the space, taking John with her. After a moment, the wall slid back into place, leaving them in darkness. Not even a minute later, the White Fang soldiers could be heard banging on the door. John could feel the dagger blade press against his neck, warning him to stay silent. After a minute, the door was forced opened, and the soldiers could be heard searching the house. After a few minutes of finding nothing, they left. Several minutes later, they could be heard reporting back to the first soldier, presumably their leader.

"We can't find him anywhere, sir. We're assuming he escaped. What should we do with the girl?"

"She's a traitor, and traitors need to be punished. But there's no reason why we can't have a little fun with her punishment, right?" He finished the last sentence with a sinister chuckle. The other two soldiers began to laugh sinisterly at that. Rachel's eyes widened as the two soldiers began to approach her. Quickly, she pulled out her dagger and tried to stab the man holding her, only for him to catch her arm. Yanking the dagger out of her grasp, he struck her with the pommel before throwing it out of reach.

"Now then, you little traitor, let's have some fun" said the leader, before all three of them began to beat on her.

For over an hour, John was forced to do nothing but listen to Rachel's screams and gasps of pain as the soldiers hit her repeatedly, as well as her cries for someone, anyone, to help her. No help came. Eventually, they moved on to torturing her in other ways, ways that John didn't know anything about until later. He was made to listen as she sobbed and moaned while the soldiers violated her, yet still no help came. John desperately wanted to run to her aid, but the strange elderly woman kept the dagger firmly placed against his neck, trapping him in the dark hidden room with her. Finally, after an eternity, the soldiers grew tired of hurting her, and killed her. The woman waited for another half an hour before reaching up and pressing a space in the wall beside her, opening the panel of wall in front of them. After checking outside of the window, she finally lowered the dagger from his neck. John saw Rachel's body on the ground, and he was nearly sick. Her naked body was a mass of bruises and broken bones, with blood everywhere. It was a sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Turning around, he finally got a good look at the woman that saved his life at the cost of his best friend.

She looked to be around grandma Weiss's age, but shorter, possibly around 4'9". The strangest thing about her was her hair and eyes, which were pink on one side and brown on the other. She wore multiple beaded necklaces, and an outfit consisting of the colors pink, brown, and white, giving John the impression of Neopolitan ice cream, a dessert he had once after Mr. Sun had come back with some of the other adults on a supply run. All in all, she was a very strange woman. John glared at her as he asked the one question weighing heavily on his mind.

"Why wouldn't you let me help her? She's dead now because of you!" The Neopolitan woman simply gave him a look that said _are you seriously asking me this?_ John waited impatiently for an answer, but she only gave him that look. Finally, he had enough.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Instead of responding, she made a gesture with her thumb and pointer finger that signaled him to lower his voice. Then, she pointed to her throat and shook her head. He finally got the message. _I can't speak._ Now understanding her silence, he started to calm down a little. But still...

"I still don't understand. Why wouldn't you let me help her?" She simply glared at him and pointed at the window, indicating Rachel. _You would've ended up just like her. Is that what you wanted?_

"Okay, but couldn't you have done something?" John asked, desperately trying to make sense of all of this cruelty. She sighed, before pointing to herself, then pointing out the window, before waving her arm in a wide sweeping motion, indicating the city. _Look at me. I'm old, and alone. There are more of those soldiers in the city. They're everywhere._ Sighing in defeat, John simply sat down against the wall and began to cry. After a moment, she awkwardly placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It was obvious that she wasn't used to comforting children, or anyone, really. Finally, John mumbled something about wanting to go home. She tapped him to get his attention, then pointed at him, before pointing at the window with a questioning look. _Where do you live?_

"I live in a cave in the Emerald forest. Rachel and I had snuck out to go exploring because all of the adults were being boring and none of the other kids wanted to play with us. Can you help me get home?" he asked, a hopeful expression on his face. The woman looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. She held up one finger, signaling him to wait a moment, before going into another room. After a moment, she came back with a white parasol on her shoulder, and a sour expression on her face.

"What's wrong? And what kind of umbrella is that?" John asked, having never seen a parasol before. She held up one finger, pointed out the window, made violent motions, then gestured to the room she just came from, before gesturing to the rest of the house. _To answer your first question, those soldiers wrecked everything in that room, and probably the rest of my house!_ John gave an 'oh' before nodding in understanding. She then held up two fingers before opening the parasol and shading herself with it while standing in a dainty pose. It reminded him of a picture he saw in one of Ms. Blake's books, where two women were walking in a park wearing weird clothes and holding those weird umbrellas. After holding that pose for a moment, she closed the parasol and, grinning wickedly, she slid a long blade out of the front, surprising John. She then retracted the blade, before pulling it out of the parasol, letting him see the full blade.

"Whoa, that is pretty cool! I never would've guessed that was a weapon!" She cringed at his voice raising in excitement, motioning him to quiet down while checking the window for soldiers. Seeing there were none, she handed John his dagger back, then motioned for him to lead the way.

John stepped out of the house, trying not to look at the broken remains of his best friend. After getting his bearings, he set off in the direction they came from. Somehow, they arrived at the place where they first entered the city without incident. It was then that John noticed that the branch they dropped down from was lying on the ground, broken. Now what? Just as he was about to ask the Neopolitan woman what she thought, the three soldiers from before stepped out from behind some crates, one of them dropping off a large saw beside a ladder leaning against a nearby house.

"We finally found you, human! And look, you brought us another human! Now we can kill you both!" They laughed at that, slowly advancing on them. The two humans continued to back up until their backs hit the wall of the city. The woman held up her parasol, ready to fight. John held onto her, scared. He just wanted to go home. They had to leave, but there wasn't anywhere to run, not with the three soldiers advancing on them. They had to escape, somehow. But how? _Please, please, please get us out of here. We just need to escape. Escape, escape, ESCAPE!_ John suddenly felt something shift inside of him. Just as the strange woman he was holding onto got ready to attack, the whole world suddenly blinked out of existence, like the blink of an eyelid, before they found themselves on the other side of the wall they had backed against. The two stood there for a moment in confusion, before the woman pointed to him, silently asking him if he did that. John just stood there dumbly for a moment, before it finally sunk in that he actually was the one that got them outside the city. Slowly, he nodded an affirmative.

They ran into a few Grimm on the way back, but the strange woman always quickly killed them all. John could only stare in awe at his strange savior. The way she fought was so different from his father's, yet he could see that it was still extremely effective. _I wonder if I could learn both of their styles? Are there any others I could learn? I want to master as many as I can! Maybe then I will be strong, strong enough that no one else will get hurt._ As they began to get near the cave, they ran into a search party that was looking for him and Rachel. While they were relieved to see him safe and unharmed, they immediately grew concerned and saddened when they heard about her demise. The two of them were escorted back to the cave, where he had to tell his story to everyone. Surprisingly, Ms. Blake and grandma Weiss were initially hostile to Ms. Neo, as he decided to call her. After hearing about how she saved him, they were still wary of her, but decided to trust her. According to them, she had dealings with some thief named Roman Torchwick back when they were young. John didn't care.

Ms. Neo decided to stay with them, since she was seen escaping with a wanted human. After a week, which was spent doing extra chores as punishment for running off, as well as repeating his story a couple more times, John woke up to discover that Ms. Blake, Mr. Sun, and Rachel's parents were all gone. Nobody knew where they went, as they got up early and left without a word. Concerned, Richard gathered a few others and left to try to find them. Later that day, close to evening time, they finally returned. Apparently, the four of them had walked right into the city and started killing every White Fang soldier they could find. Between the four of them, they had killed over four hundred soldiers before Adam Taurus himself showed up with a battalion of his elite soldiers. Although the Ms. Blake and the others put up a good fight, they were still no match for Adam and his soldiers. John was really sad to hear that they died, but his dad comforted him by saying that it was much better that they died in battle, rather than be captured and tortured to death. John hoped that those three soldiers that killed Rachel were among the slain.

Time passed, with the survivors changing homes every now and then. John continued to grow. With practice, he discovered that his semblance was, indeed teleportation. He only had a range of a few feet, but he discovered that he could use it again almost immediately after reappearing without any trouble, as long as he didn't go very far. He had mastered his father's fighting style, as well as Ms. Neo's. He was proficient in a couple of styles of unarmed combat, and he was working on developing his own technique with the katana. Unfortunately, he was having some trouble, since the sword his dad gave him was too heavy. On his fifteenth birthday, his father gave him a wakizashi sword, which is like a small katana. His new sword was 20 inches long and could shift into a handgun capable of firing different dust rounds. In addition to this, he also received a book that originally belonged to Ms. Blake, detailing the history of different swords. One section in particular caught his eye. It detailed how the different swords were made. Gathering an old sword that his dad gave him to practice with, and some discarded material from the machine some of the old scientists were making, John left to go to the abandoned city they were nearby.

He had been to this city a couple of times in the past few years, and knew his way around fairly well. After a few minutes of walking, and a few dead Grimm later, he finally found what he was looking for, a weapons repair shop. This shop had an advertisement stating that it could do any customization as well. After flipping a few switches in the power box, and replacing a few dust crystals, the power came on. Grinning, John got to work.

After a few hours of work, John was finally finished. In his hands was a sword that resembled a katana, with a few differences. The blade was slightly longer than a normal katana, and it was much lighter, due in part to John infusing gravity dust in the blade and hilt. Taking his new sword to an open area used for trying out weapons, he gave it a few experimental swings. Grinning, John placed it in the sheath he had made for it. _Oh yeah, this is definitely going to work. Now I will master that style for sure!_ He continued to use his new sword to kill any Grimm he came across, before finally arriving home in time to show off his new sword and eat dinner.

Two more years passed. John perfected his new technique, and was now capable of using his custom sword to swing at nearly the speed of sound. He named his sword Judgment, his normal katana Wrath, and his wakizashi/handgun Mercy. For his personal emblem he chose the Shnee family snowflake, but on fire and partially melted.

The scientists have finally finished their machine, which turns out to be a time machine. Since John was their best fighter, he was chosen to be the one to use it. His mission was clear. He was to go back in time to a week before Beacon academy's last school dance, and he had to find and kill Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black. Due to the stresses that would be caused by time travel, the pod would not be able to make a return trip, meaning he had to get this right, because he would be stuck in the past. After saying goodbye to his parents and friends, including Ms. Neo, who he considered to be a very good friend, John got into the time pod, and was sent into the past.

There were no windows on the pod, so all John saw was darkness. However, he could hear the metal of the pod straining and groaning, as it was slowly being crushed and warped. Suddenly, all sound stopped, and for a moment, John wondered if he was dead. Then, he felt his pod go into free fall for a moment, before crashing into the ground and breaking open. _Oww, I wish their calculations could've warned them about that. That hurt!_ John slowly got up and looked around. He saw Beacon academy directly in front of him. Instead of old ruins, it stood proudly, a symbol of hope and learning. John knew he had to ensure that it continued to stand in his time. With a determined stride, he walked into Beacon.

Finding Cinder and her cohorts was surprisingly easy. He had seen their pictures before traveling, so he knew what they looked like. He saw Mercury walk past him almost immediately after walking in, so he simply tailed him to what appeared to be a combat class. Before the class could start, John asked the stern looking blonde teacher if he could speak to Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. She studied him for a moment, before asking him who he is.

"I am a messenger from another school, here to give them a private message. Please, ma'am, it's extremely important that I give them this message" he said.

"Hmm, although you appear to be a first year student, I can't say I recall seeing you before. Fine, but make it quick" she replied. John thanked her, and she called them down and they stepped outside the classroom.

"What's up?" Mercury asked. John could tell that they knew something was up. _I'd better make this quick._

"I'll be brief. I have traveled a long way, because I heard about your plans for Beacon," at this point their eyes went wide, before Cinder narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Who are you?" she asked. John merely smirked at her before unsheathing Judgement.

"A messenger from the future, here to tell you to do everyone a favor and die now!" he said, before attacking. They were good, but the speed that he swung his sword with surprised him, and he managed to kill Emerald before they could react. Mercury parried his next strike, but John switched his sword to his left hand, before unsheathing Mercy and switching it to gun form. Switching his weapons in his hands, so that Mercy was in his left hand, he slashed at Mercury before teleporting behind him when he went to block, then shot the back of his head before he realized what happened. Sheathing Mercy, he turned to face Cinder. She summoned two glass swords, and attacked him.

She was good, he had to give her that. No matter where he teleported, she was able to keep up with him. Back and forth they fought, but neither side was willing to give. Suddenly, the door behind Cinder opened, surprising her and knocking her forward, allowing John to stab her in her stomach, before twisting the sword and ripping it out through the side, severing her spine as he did so. As she fell, he looked up to see the stern blonde teacher from earlier glaring at him. John gulped. This woman easily put grandma Weiss's glares to shame.

"You're no messenger, are you? Explain yourself, _now_ " she demanded, putting extra emphasis on the word now. _This is going to be a long day,_ he thought.

He started to tell her his story, only for her to stop him before he could really get started. Rather, she got a rather portly professor with a large mustache to watch her class, then took him into an elevator to the top floor of Beacon tower. Stepping out, he found himself in a strange office full of rotating gears, with an enigmatic man with silver hair and a cane sitting at a large desk. Pouring himself a mug of coffee, the man introduced himself as professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon. The blonde, introduced as professor Goodwitch, explained what she saw. Raising an eyebrow, he asked for John's side of the story. He told him, and, surprisingly, he believed him. Ozpin contacted the police, and combined with the remains of the time pod and the lack of any kind of information on John, the police had no choice but to believe him. While he wasn't officially under arrest, he still had to stay in a jail cell until they knew what to do with him. _Mission accomplished and I'm in jail for it. At least the city and school will be ok. Rachel, I actually did it..._

After a month in jail, the guard came to tell him that someone is here for him. Curious, John followed the guard, only to find professor Ozpin there waiting for him, with an offer to attend his school. Seeing no better options, he accepted.

Since all of the teams were full, John was on a team by himself. Instead, he would fill in on other teams when one of their members were sick, or accompany teams on missions that were more difficult and could use an extra hand. Soon, John had built up a reputation as the top huntsman in Beacon. After angering him once, even team CRDL learned to respect him, although their respect came more from fear of him than anything else.

Eventually, John fell in love with a young huntress by the name of Ruby Rose. A few months after graduating, they were married. In time, they had a son, who eventually became the leader of his own team, consisting of himself, the son of Weiss and Neptune, the daughter of Yang and a skilled inventor and huntsman named Alan Hamilton, and the daughter of Blake and Sun. Weiss went on to take over the Shnee dust company, and gave Blake the position of managing human-faunus relations. With the help of Blake, the Shnee dust company was well on its way to being a well respected company.

Two days left until the start of their second semester at Beacon, four young students sneak into a Shnee company warehouse. While inside, one of them causes a huge explosion that engulfs them in it. Once the dust and smoke settles, the warehouse is destroyed, and the students are nowhere to be seen, vanished off of the face of Remnant.

 **This chapter was WAY too hard to write! I don't think I did near as good on this as I did last chapter. This was pretty much just setting up for the main story, which the kids will be the main characters of. That's why I didn't reveal their names this chapter, because this chapter belonged to John. Now, the reason John and his dad have their semblances the way they are is because Winter mentioned to Weiss that they are one of the few families that inherit their semblance, which got me to thinking, what would happen if a member of that kind of family married a member of another family with a generational semblance? What kind of semblance would their child have? So I tried to combine the semblances as best as I could. I hope I did well. Anyway, sorry if this chapter isn't up to par, but I finally got the bulk of the groundwork done! Woohoo! If you would like, please leave a review telling me how I can improve, or how much you like the story, or whatever. Seriously, this chapter was a pain to write. Any suggestions to make these kinds of chapters easier to write would be very welcome. See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **We're finally starting the actual story! Now, heads up. John and Ruby's son is named Jack. You may have noticed my username, Jack54311. THIS IS NOT A SELF INSERT! Jack isn't even my real name, it's a name I just happen to like. There's a story to that, but I won't bore you with the details. Jack was the first character I came up with for this story, and the story idea came from him when I started thinking up his team and their history and everything else. Since he was the one who gave me the story, and this is my first fic I'm posting, he gets the name. Again, this is not a self insert, think of it more as my way of saying 'thank you' to him. Sorry for the long author's note, but I felt like I had to get that out of the way. Anyway, enough talk, on with the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY, that honor goes to Rooster Teeth.**

Chapter three:

Jack groaned as he began to regain consciousness. _What happened? I'm not dead, am I?_ The last thing he remembered was the explosion at the warehouse. _Can't say I saw that coming. Weiss is gonna be really mad when she finds out. Hmm, maybe it would be a good thing if we're dead, after all._ Everything had started off normal, too. He and his team had grown up together, had known each other for all of their lives, really. Their parents were close friends, and had apparently been on the same team together when they were students at Beacon. They would always do things together, one of their favorites being sneaking around the Shnee dust company warehouses to see the new shipments before they reached the market. It was always easy to get in. Phillip, the son of Weiss and Neptune, would get the passcodes from his mom's scroll. He would let them in, and it was simple as that. This time was no different. _Well, except we got blown into maybe the afterlife. That's definitely new._

-Flashback-

"Here you go guys. You have got to check this out. This is supposed to be the biggest shipment of dust in the past few years. Mom said something about the workers finding a cave full of the stuff!" said Phil, as he opened the warehouse door. Phillip Vasilias-Shnee is 5'9" with his father's looks and his mother's white hair, blue eyes and pale complexion. He wore faded white slacks with blue and white tennis shoes, a red tee shirt, and a white dress jacket that faded to blue near the bottom and the end of the sleeves, and it also had a red interior lining. On the back of the jacket was the Shnee family snowflake with electricity arcing all over it. On his side he had his trusty trick rapier, Winter Storm. It looked a lot like his mother's rapier, with the exception that the blade could separate into multiple sections, effectively making it into a bladed whip. While he was generally right handed, he could effectively fight with either hand, making him more dangerous in combat. As his teammates came into the warehouse, he turned toward the only faunus of the group.

"Raelin, I'm trusting you to keep an eye on Solaris, make sure she doesn't touch anything she shouldn't. A lot of this dust is in powdered form, and we don't need any accidental explosions. Can you do it?"

"Got it. Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on her" replied Raelin Wukong. She is 5'10" with black hair that reached toward the middle of her back. She bore a close resemblance to her mother, Blake, even including her yellow cat like eyes, but the way she carried herself more closely resembled her father, Sun. She was currently wearing a pair of patched up black jeans, black skater shoes with a dark purple border, black tee shirt, and a threadbare blue jean jacket. On the sides of her shoes was her personal emblem, a Grimm mask similar to those the White Fang wore with two crossed katanas behind it. Despite being able to afford better clothes, she never cared for them, as she found them uncomfortable. While it mildly annoyed her mother, her father wholeheartedly agreed with her, since she inherited it from him. She left her cat ears uncovered, not caring if the world saw that she was a cat faunus. On her back were her two trick ninjato, Rising Shadows. **(Ninjato are a type of sword that is commonly associated with ninjas and believed to be a common ninja weapon. They are approximately 19 inches long with a straight blade. Other than being straight, they otherwise appear similar to a katana. Ninjas who used this sword generally used a longer sheath to store additional tools in).** Her swords were able to transform into semi automatic machine guns.

Solaris Hamilton is the daughter of Yang and Alan Hamilton. Alan was a student from Haven who competed in the Vytal Festival tournament. He met Yang after she came in second place, barely losing to Pyrrha after a close match. They went out for dinner, and quickly fell in love. Alan was a skilled huntsman, coming in fourth place at the tournament, as well as a skilled inventor. Early in their marriage, he got a patent for his research into nano robotics and bio technology.

Solaris bore a close resemblance to her mother, right down to her lilac eyes that shifted red when angry. She was 5' 10" and wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail that reached the small of her back, and kept a large amber stone attached to the end of it. She was currently wearing brown shorts that reached just above the knees, with brown and yellow sneakers and long yellow socks reaching midway up her calves. She was also wearing a bright yellow tee shirt with an open brown button up jacket that had the sleeves rolled up. On her shirt was her personal emblem, a red sun with orange flames surrounding it. On each of her arms were a gold colored bracelet and another band below the elbow. These were actually her weapons, which she named Heart Breaker. They used her father's nano technology to shift into a pair of gauntlets that had ridged knuckles, blades extending past the elbows, and mini rifles built into the top. The rifles were powered by dust and fired by kinetic energy, meaning that to fire them she has to throw a punch. She trained everyday until she mastered them, and she is justifiably proud of the fact that she can now hit a target 50 yards away dead center.

Jackson Flint is the leader of their team. He is the son of John and Ruby Flint. He is 5'10" with silver eyes and black hair with a white lock of hair at the front **(think Rogue from X-Men, only with shorter hair)**. He wore black cargo pants with red trim, and black and red sneakers with red shoelaces. He also was wearing a black long sleeved tee shirt with an open red sleeveless silk hoodie. On the back of both his shirt and hoodie was his personal emblem, a rose similar to his mother's, but with a line bisecting diagonally down from right to left, with the top half partially slid off, giving it the appearance of being sliced into two. On his shirt the emblem was red, and on his hoodie it was black. Hidden up his sleeves were his weapons, Weeping Rose. They were two small scythes that could be combined into several forms. One was a bow that fired ice dust arrows. It took some tinkering, and a lot of help from Phil, but he managed to get the arrows to create ice roses on impact, effectively giving him a tool to trap enemies non lethally. It's second combination was a crossbow that fired explosive dust bolts. It's third form was a long staff with blades extending outward on either side. It's fourth, final, and by far his most favorite form was a large scythe with two blades close together that had electricity arcing between them. Each form, including the two smaller scythes, had black handles with red blades that had a strip of silver in the middle. The strip was narrow near the handle, but got slightly larger toward the tip, with the tip being completely silver, giving the impression of a teardrop.

As the team was exploring the warehouse and admiring all of the different types of dust, Solaris decided to pause near the control panel for a crane that was mounted into the floor. Not paying attention, she leaned against the control panel and accidentally pressed a button. Raelin, who had gotten distracted, failed to notice in time. The crane released a cargo container it had been holding up onto several containers below it. The containers burst open from the force of the impact, releasing a large cloud of the dust inside them. Jack, who had been standing the closest to them, was covered in the dust cloud and accidentally breathed some of it in. He began sneezing violently, setting off the dust in the air. The explosions reached several other containers, and detonated the dust inside them, setting off a chain reaction that reached throughout the entire warehouse. Before any of them could escape, they were all caught in the explosion. Jack's last thought before losing consciousness was _we are so dead if we survive this._

-End Flashback-

Slowly, everyone began to regain consciousness, groaning as they awoke. Everyone felt like a group of Ursai had used their bodies as personal punching bags. They were sore all over, and groggy, like they had just woke up from being drugged. Slowly, they stood up on shaky legs that barely supported them.

"Anybody know what happened?" Raelin asked.

"Well, Solaris decided to drop a container of extremely volatile dust, Jack sneezed, and everything blew up! Speaking of which, weren't you supposed to be watching her?" Phil replied. Raelin looked down in shame, a blush forming on her cheeks.

"Um, Raelin, what's wrong?" Jack asked.

"I got distracted" she mumbled.

"Well, that much is obvious. What was it?" Phil asked. She mumbled something incoherently.

"Anybody catch what she said? I know I didn't" asked Solaris. Both males shook their heads.

"I said I saw a mouse" Raelin repeated, just barely audible enough for them to hear. All three members of her team sweat dropped.

"Okay, you have cat to be kitten me right meow" Solaris punned. Both males facepalmed, while Raelin only hung her head lower.

"Now is not the time, Solaris" Jack said through his hand.

"We are so dead. When my mom finds out we blew up all of that dust, I don't think I'll ever get back on her good side" Phil said, with his hand still over his face.

"Um, guys, anyone know where we are? Because this doesn't look like the shipping yard. It looks more like an alleyway" Solaris said, just now realizing her surroundings. Sure enough, they were in an alley. Deciding to get a better idea of where they were at, they stepped out of the alley, only to find themselves in downtown Vale.

"Okay, I have a plan. It looks like it's morning, so we only have one day until classes start back up. Let's just go back to Beacon, then call our parents. They can't do too much to us if we're already at school, right?" Jack said, looking at his team.

"Sounds like our best option. I'm in" Phil replied. The others also agreed, and they made their way to the shipyard for the nearest airship to Beacon. As they flew to Beacon, they couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. They landed, and got off of the airship. As they were walking, they saw a monkey faunus walk by while talking to a teen with blue hair. Oddly enough, they looked like Raelin and Phil's dads.

"Okay, that was weird. I thought those were your dads at first. So, who's hungry?" asked Solaris. The others agreed, and followed the two teens to the cafeteria. What they didn't expect was the sight they were greeted by when they entered. People were rushing past them out the doors, several yelling 'food fight!'. On one side of the cafeteria, there was an orange haired girl laughing evilly while chanting that she was the queen of the castle. She was standing on top of several tables that had been stacked on top of each other, with three other students around her. But the weirdest thing was that she looked and sounded like a teenage Nora, with the others looking like teen versions of Jaune, Pyrrha, and Lie Ren. Suddenly, a young red cloaked girl came forward, facing them.

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be, delicious!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah!" cheered three other girls behind her. Jack, Solaris, Phil, and Raelin, or team JSPR, **(pronounced jasper. Last note, promise!)** could only stare in shock at the scene before them.

"No way. Please tell me this is some kind of dust induced hallucination. We're hallucinating, right?" Jack asked Phil, not wanting to believe his eyes and ears. If they weren't hallucinating, then he didn't want to think about what that meant.

"I really hope so, Jack" Phil replied, still in shock at what he was seeing and hearing.

"Off with their heads!" Nora exclaimed. Team JNPR began to launch watermelons at their opponents.

"Yang, turkey!" said Ruby. Yang rolled forward, grabbing two turkeys and wearing them on her fists. She started punching the watermelons coming at her. Blake leaped over her with two long bread sticks in her hands and joined her in knocking the watermelons out of the air. Yang threw the turkeys at her opponents. Pyrrha dodged one, but the other hit Jaune in the head, knocking him down. Pyrrha grabs a bread stick and begins to duel Blake. Blake threw one of her bread sticks, but missed. Pyrrha sent her flying with a strike and threw the dropped bread stick like a spear. Yang steps in and blocks it with a punch, but is knocked down by a second bread stick. Ruby jumps onto a table and uses a tray as a skate board, sliding along the table. She blocks another piece of food thrown by Pyrrha, then uses the tray and her own momentum to knock her down. Ren and Nora start running towards Ruby, but Weiss jumps in and squirts ketchup on the ground, causing Ren to slip and fall. Nora jumps up and grabs a pole, then stabs it into a watermelon. She aims a swing at Weiss, but Ruby jumps in front of her and takes the hit instead. Weiss grabs a swordfish off of the ground, and glides forward, knocking Nora back. The two then begin to duel, watermelon hammer versus swordfish. Nora manages to hit Weiss in the chest, and launches her into a column, breaking it and causing it to crumble. Ruby, seeing this, rushes over to her side.

"Weiss, Weiss, don't leave me. Noooo!" Ruby dramatically yells, as she holds Weiss's unconscious form. Yang leaps over a fallen table and shoves her fists into two turkeys lying on the ground. Ren grabs to leek stalks and faces her, just in time to block a kick from the blonde brawler. They begin to fight, turkey versus leek. Yang delivers a combo that knocks him into the air. Ren throws his leeks, but she dodges and leaps into the air. She delivers a brutal hit, knocking him down and out. As she lands, Nora rushes in with her watermelon hammer to avenge her fallen friend. Yang tries to hit her, but is sent flying through the roof instead. Blake dodges the falling rubble and grabs some sausage links. She wields them like a whip and knock Nora into a vending machine. Nora picks up two drinks that had been knocked out of the machine and throws them like grenades, putting Blake on the defensive. Pyrrha recovers from her last hit and sees the drink cans around her. Using her polarity semblance, she sends a bunch of the drink cans toward Blake. Blake was defenseless against such an assault and began to be pelted by drink cans. Pyrrha launched more cans at her, sending her flying and taking her out of the fight.

Ruby, seeing her teammate go down, decides to end things. Using her speed semblance, she rushed towards the four members of team JNPR. All of the food and drinks around her was caught up in the vacuum left from her passing and trailed behind her. She dashed past team JNPR and dived at the wall. She lands on the wall in a crouching position, causing a crater to form on the wall from the force of the air pressing against it from her using her semblance. She then jumps out of the way as team JNPR is pinned against the wall and pelted repeatedly by all of the food and drinks caught up in her wake. They were helpless against such an assault. When the attack was finally over, the defeated team JNPR slid off of the wall.

"I love these guys" said Sun, who had somehow remained spotless throughout the whole ordeal. Neptune, who had been standing right beside him, glared at him since he was completely covered in food and drink. Team JSPR merely stood there with their jaws hanging open, still in shock over the implications of what they were witnessing. Somehow, they also managed to remain spotless. Suddenly, the cafeteria doors burst open and in walked professor Goodwitch. Growling, she blocked some food flying her way and used her semblance to repair the cafeteria.

"Children, please, do not play with your food" she said. The only response she got was a loud belch from Nora and Yang finally dropping back down from the ceiling. Growling, she was about to say more when professor Ozpin placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let it go" he said in a comforting tone.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world" she stated.

"And they will be. But right now, they're still children. So why not let them play the part?" he asked. He then turned away from her and started walking towards the doors.

"After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever" he added over his shoulder to her. Turning back towards the doors, he noticed team JSPR standing near the entrance. While some new faces weren't unusual, given the upcoming Vytal festival, these four were highly unusual to a perceptive man such as himself. Turning his full attention to them, he decided to approach them.

"And who might you four be? I don't recall seeing you before. Aren't you a bit early to arrive for the festival?" he asked, while closely studying them. Judging from their nervous expressions, his suspicions were confirmed that these four were no ordinary students. Also, something about their looks was very familiar...

"Um, I'm Jack. This is my cousin, Solaris, and Phillip, and Raelin. We're team JSPR, sir" stated Jack, introducing his team. He barely heard the blonde girl, Solaris, lean toward her cousin and whisper something along the lines of 'well at least he still looks the same. I wonder how he does that? Magic?' _Very interesting,_ he thought. _Could it be? I need to learn more about them._ Professor Ozpin then saw Jack's eyes, which immediately grabbed his attention.

"How very interesting. Jack, was it? You have silver eyes" he stated. Jack nervously rubbed the back of his head, similar to a certain red cloaked huntress.

"Um, yes, sir. I got them from my mother. It's kind of a family trait" replied Jack, not sure where this was going. _Now I'm almost sure of it. Time to see if I'm correct._ Looking over his shoulder at team RWBY, he then looked back at team JSPR. Seeming to come to a decision about something, he said the last thing they thought they'd hear.

"Your mother, she wouldn't happen to be Ruby Rose, would it?" All four members of team JSPR felt their jaws drop. Sun and Neptune were still standing nearby, and heard what he said. Their jaws dropped. Professor Goodwitch, seeing everyone's reactions, finally decided to find out what was going on.

"Are these transfer students here for the festival?" she asked.

"In a sense, yes. Although I suspect that isn't entirely the case, now, is it?" he said, with a pointed look at them. They shuffled nervously, looking at their team leader, Jack. He sighed, before explaining their situation to him.

"As you just guessed, we're not exactly from around here. Well, we are, I mean, we will be, umm... let me try that again" he chuckled nervously. His team either sighed or face palmed, respectively. Professor Ozpin held up a hand to silence him.

"I think I can guess. You four are students of this school in the future. Somehow, you found yourselves in the past. Judging from your expressions, I'm guessing that it wasn't intentional. Am I right so far?" he asked. Team JSPR could only nod, too dumbstruck to even speak.

"Good. Please, allow me to continue. Judging by your physical appearance, as well as your clothing choices, I'm assuming that you four are the children of students currently attending here. I assume I was correct in guessing that miss Rose is your mother?" Again, a nod from Jack.

"Hmm, I'm assuming that your teammates are also the children of team RWBY?" If it was possible for their eyes to go any wider, they would. They nodded. Professor Ozpin merely smiled at them, while Professor Goodwitch stood in total shock, her jaw hanging as far as it could go. Finally gaining control of her mouth, she started to voice her objections.

"Ozpin, you can't be serious! What you're suggesting simply isn't possible! I mean, time travel? You don't really believe-" Ozpin simply raised his hand, cutting her off.

"Glynda, please. Look at them. Look closely. Now look at team RWBY, as well as the two young gentlemen who have been listening. Tell me, do you see any other explanation?" Sun and Neptune were surprised, to say the least, at being caught. They had been behind him throughout the whole conversation. How did he catch them?

Professor Goodwitch called over team RWBY and for a good two minutes she simply studied them, team JSPR, and Sun and Neptune, who she had also motioned over. Finally, she sighed in defeat.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I can't see any other explanation. There is too much resemblance between them, and they already admitted to your theory being correct. But my question is, how? How did you travel back in time?" Team RWBY was shocked to hear this, as this is the first they had heard of this conversation. It didn't help any when they saw the team in question and noticed how much they looked alike. Raelin sighed.

"You just had to ask us that in front of them, didn't you? Let's just hope we don't do too much damage by telling all of you. First, let's get the awkward part out of the way. Solaris, you want to tell them?" The blonde in question nodded before stepping forward.

"Okay, don't freak, but we're kinda your kids from the future" the look of shock and disbelief on their faces was truly a sight to behold. After a few seconds, Weiss held up her hands in a time out position.

"Wait, if you're our kids, then what are you even doing here? Sure, you look similar enough, but can you even prove your story?" Phil sighed as he stepped forward. _She's going to kill me when I tell her. From what I heard, the mom I knew is a lot mellower than when she was in school. Maybe I did die, and this is Monty Oum's idea of Hell for me._

"Well, as for how we got here, it's kind of a funny story. You see, growing up we would always sneak around different warehouses and other locations for fun. Your company recently discovered a very rich deposit of dust, biggest one in years, actually, and it arrived yesterday. We snuck in, Solaris wasn't paying attention and accidentally hit a button, a crate dropped, dust flew everywhere, Jack sneezed, and the warehouse, as well as all of the dust in it sort of, um, blew up?" Phil finished, with a nervous expression on his face as he studied Weiss for any sort of reaction. Weiss, in turn, studied him with an unreadable expression on her face. This continued for several moments, before her expression shifted into a glare.

"I'm assuming that you're supposed to be my son, correct?" she asked, her voice carefully calm. Phillip nodded, looking very nervous, while squeaking out a 'yes ma'am.'

"Then, if you're really my son, I'm assuming that I taught you better than to be so careless around dust?" she asked, anger seeping through her carefully controlled tone. Again, another 'yes ma'am' from Phil, sweat beginning to visibly form on his brow. The rest of his team slowly distanced themselves from him a few paces, not wanting to face her wrath.

"Professor, since he claims to be my future son, and since my future self isn't here, would it be in my rights to act as his mother?" she asked, directing her question toward Ozpin. The Beacon Headmaster thought it over for a few minutes, before finally seeming to reach a decision.

"Hmm, yes, I suppose that would be within your rights. However, I believe there would have to be limits put in place since you are technically not his mother yet. Those can be established later, though. However, before you make any sort of decision about his punishment, don't you want to discuss it with his will-be father?" he asked, a hint of a smirk forming on his face. _Perhaps I'm having a bit too much fun with this. Still, I believe the young man has enough to deal with right now, so I'll give him this small reprieve._ The young heiress turned toward him in shock. Father? Who? Then she saw Sun and Neptune. Looking between them and her son, the pieces fell in place, before she began to stutter with a blush forming on her face, as Sun and Neptune also figured it out, causing Neptune's jaw to drop and making him blush while Sun just grinned real big and began to tease him about it.

"W-what? D-discuss something l-like th-that with someone I h-haven't even m-met? You know what? Nevermind. He's probably faking it anyway" she said, hoping this was all just some prank. _Although, that blue haired boy is rather attractive. Gah, what am I thinking?! I'm starting to sound like Yang!_ Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she watched the white haired male as he just sighed, before forming a very familiar glyph. Specifically, a basic Shnee platform glyph.

"Is this proof enough?" he asked. Everyone stared wide eyed, while Weiss just dumbly nodded her head, too shocked to say anything. Next, Yang spoke.

"So, Weiss marries tall, blue, and handsome over here, but my first question is who is Sun's kid. Of course, the real important one is where's my man?" she asked, a grin forming on her face. Raelin answered her first question.

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious who my mom is," at this, she wiggled her cat ears, "but as for my dad, it's him" she pointed at Sun, causing both him and Blake to blush furiously while hiding their faces. Solaris then decided to answer her mother's second question.

"As for your second question, you probably still haven't met dad yet. You two don't really start talking until the end of the Vytal Festival tournament. But don't worry, you two really hit it off with a Yang!" she punned, causing a grin from her mother and a groan from everyone else. _Oh no, now there's two of them_ was the prevailing thought in some form for most of the people gathered there. Finally, Ruby spoke up.

"Um, when do I meet my future husband? Just asking, since everyone else is learning about theirs, heh heh..." she trailed off rather nervously, a small blush forming on her cheeks. Team JSPR shuffled about nervously before Jack spoke up.

"Um, mom, if it's ok to call you that?" Ruby nodded, a small smile on her face. "This is kinda complicated, so can everyone please bear with me?" Again, more nodding, this time from everyone. "You see, my dad isn't exactly from around here. I don't know how much I can safely say, but suffice to say that he's a time traveler from a more distant future who, for very good reason, traveled to this time line. Oh, and in his time line, Weiss didn't get to marry Neptune. Instead, she married my great grandfather, technically making me your great grandson" he finished, directing that last part to Weiss, who stood there in shock, along with everyone else.

"WHAT?!" everyone yelled, their minds completely blown by this startling revelation.

"Um, yeah. You see, some stuff happened in his time line where Neptune sort of died, so Weiss couldn't marry him. So she married my great grandfather, who had his own family semblance. Their son married someone else with a family semblance, and dad came back in time, fixed history, and married mom. Apparently, it runs in her side of the family for their semblances to have something to do with roses. So no, I can't do glyphs, and yes, I do look different, but we are related on my dad's side, technically" Jack explained to Weiss. Ruby looked really interested in something Jack said.

"You said that my side of the family all has rose themed semblances? Could you show me yours? Pretty please?" she begged. Jack only laughed over her eagerness. Besides weapons, cookies, and strawberries, few things could get his mother this excited, except maybe her family. He and his dad had a running joke that the family part was debatable, though.

"Sure" he said, before holding up his hand, revealing a single rose petal held between two fingers.

"So, what, you can make a rose petal? Is that it?" asked Yang, confused when he just held it there, and didn't do anything. Jack merely grinned before he threw the petal, slicing a lock of hair off of Neptune's head. He then held up his hand with his palm facing upward and his fingers partially curled before he created a small flurry of petals that swirled over his open palm. Stretching out his hand, he sent them flying toward one of the surviving watermelons, slicing it into pieces, then he used the petals to carry a few back to him and the group.

"Okay, I have to admit, that was pretty cool. What about you two?" Yang asked, quite impressed about Jack's semblance, and eager to see her daughter's. Raelin grinned before her form shimmered, revealing six of her where there used to only be one.

"I can make several copies of myself that moves alongside me on a predetermined path. They can't attack, and disappear after one hit, but they're useful for distracting and confusing opponents" Raelin explained. Everyone was pretty impressed with her semblance, as well. Finally, all eyes were on Solaris. Shrugging, she closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again, her body and eyes suddenly wreathed in small flames.

"I have the ability to enhance my attacks with fire, but the strength of it is based on my emotions. The angrier I get, or the more passionate I feel about something, the stronger my semblance. When my emotions run high enough, I can even start hurling some of the flames at my target. This one time, I got really angry at a really big ursa for messing with my hair, and I threw a _really_ big fireball at it, completely killing it. You could say that I was pretty heated at the time" she said, grinning as she told the pun. Most of the others groaned.

"That's definitely Yang's daughter. Who else could possibly love puns that much?" Weiss stated through her hand still on her face due to facepalming.

"Ooh, what about weapons? Pretty please may we see them?" Ruby asked, her eyes sparkling as she thought about what kind of cool weapons they must have in the future. Smiling, they showed their weapons. Blake was pretty impressed over Raelin's Rising Shadows, admiring how well balanced they were, as well as their semi auto machine gun forms. Yang loved Solaris's Heart Breakers, and was very impressed when she was told about her incredible accuracy with them. Weiss seemed to approve of Phil's Winter Storm, even complimenting his form, although she thought the whip feature was a bit much. Ruby was practically in Heaven with Jack's Weeping Rose. All of the different forms were a real treat for her, and she nearly fainted from sheer joy at its big electric scythe form. Jack explained how he really wanted to use a scythe like hers, but he didn't like the idea of just using a scythe, or just a scythe/gun combo, and he really wanted to keep his options open. That was when he decided to try combining some of his favorites into one weapon. Add in some help from Ren to get it to fit up his sleeves, and that's how he made this weapon. Ruby couldn't be any prouder. Finally, Ozpin cleared his throat.

"Now that you all have gotten acquainted, I'm assuming you are going to be staying here until you can figure out a way back to your own time?" he asked. Team JSPR nodded. "Good. And I'm assuming you have already passed initiation?" again they nodded. "Where in your studies are you currently at?"

"We had finished our first semester of our first year and were at the evening of our next to last day of break before our second semester began when the... accident occurred" Phil answered, choosing his words carefully when referring to how they went back in time.

"Good. It seems you are still on track, assuming we follow a similar curriculum in your time. Classes begin tomorrow. Your dorm will be beside team RWBY's, they can help you find it, should you need it. You are dismissed for now, although I do have some questions for a later time. That will be all, and welcome back to Beacon" he said, finishing his sentence with a smile. As the students were leaving, he let out a sigh.

"That was certainly unexpected" said professor Goodwitch.

"Yes, it certainly was" replied Ozpin.

"I hope this doesn't interfere with history too much. I'm also curious as to why that Jack boy's father had to come to this time. When does he get here, if he hasn't already? What purpose does he have to travel here, and apparently never go back?"

"I don't know, Glynda. But this is certainly shaping up to be a very interesting rest of the year."

 **And that seems like a good place to stop for this chapter. In case you couldn't tell, I plan on following Volume 2 with this story, before branching off to the finale. Jack's weapon seems a little OP at first glance, but compared to Pyrrha, Coco, or especially Velvet, it seems a little more fair. Also, I'm going to try to balance out how much attention each character gets in this story. What do you guys and girls think about the kids so far? Do they seem realistic enough? Also, Ozpin spilled the beans. I wonder why? Who knows? Let me know what you all think of this chapter! See you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Happy late Mother's Day to my mom and all of the other mothers out there! Seriously, if you can talk to your mom, tell her how much you love her. If you see her, give her a hug, maybe even a kiss. Chances are, she deserves it for giving birth to you and helping to raise you. And to my mom, I just want to say that I love you very much. Thank you for putting up with me all of these years. Seriously, I can't ask for a better mom. Anyway, I will occasionally be referring to some of the other time lines in this story. The Fallen time line is the one ruled by Adam and the White Fang. The Altered time line is the one John traveled to and killed Cinder and company. Finally, the Current time line is the one team JSPR accidentally traveled to, and most of the story takes place in. There may be one more, but I haven't decided yet. Speaking of John, we will see him from time to time (no pun intended) just not this chapter. On with the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth. I make no profit from this story, although donations are accepted. All I own is my OCs and the idea for this story.**

Chapter four:

"Here is your room, and there's our room, oh, and over there is team JNPR's room! Do you know them?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, we would see them every now and then. Sometimes you would try to get missions with them so you could hang out. Something about old times?" Jack said, addressing team RWBY. Before anyone could respond, the subject of their discussion stepped out of the door in the form of Nora dragging along a reluctant Ren.

"Come on Ren, we can't get pancakes by just sitting in our room!" whined the hammer wielding Valkyrie.

"Nora, we just ate. How are you still hungry?" Jaune asked from inside their dorm.

"I worked up an appetite with that superdie duper awesome food fight! Can we do that again sometime? Like, soon? As in dinner time soon?" Nora asked excitedly. At this, both males of team JNPR sighed.

"I don't think professor Goodwitch would appreciate us having another food fight so soon. Maybe another time?" stated Pyrrha.

"Aww, but it was super awesome fun! Hey, who are your new friends?" asked Nora, seeing team RWBY standing in the hallway with team JSPR. Both teams looked at each other nervously, not sure how to respond. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha peeked into the hallway to see who she was talking about.

"Hey, are those relatives of yours or something?" Jaune asked.

"Umm, yeah, something like that" Yang guardedly answered. By this point, all four members of team JNPR were looking real closely at them. They kept switching their gazes between RWBY and JSPR, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that they were confused by the close similarities. Finally, Jaune looked back to the young reaper.

"Ruby, what's going on? None of you ever mentioned any relatives, and they look so similar to you all. Is there something we should know?" He knew he was prying, and he hoped that they were just siblings, or cousins, or something. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going on, and it involved this new team that just randomly showed up. _That blonde girl could be Yang's twin, and the faunus looks like what Blake would look like if she relaxed more. Then there's that white haired guy. I did some research since first meeting Weiss, she only has one sister, who's older than her. This guy doesn't fit the description of any other relatives of hers. And is the last guy trying to be a male Ruby? What's with that white lock of hair? What's going on?_

"Okay, everyone follow us" Ruby said, sighing to herself as everyone entered her dorm room. When everyone was either seated or standing comfortably in team RWBY's room, she turned to look at JNPR. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, then nodded to Jack.

"Well, you're probably not going to believe this, but we are kinda their kids from the future" he said. As expected, he was met with looks of shock and disbelief. Sighing, he looked at Phil, who nodded before creating a platform glyph. _Judging by their shocked expressions, I'd say that certainly got their attention,_ Jack thought.

"As you can see," Phil began, "I am definitely a Shnee. I have the looks, I have the semblance, and, when it suits me, I can have the attitude. Now, I'm sure I don't match any currently existing members of the Shnee family, thus leaving two options. Either I was born from a secret affair, and my existence was somehow kept hidden from the world for seventeen years, or we really did come from a different time. Any questions?" he asked, smirking. Everyone was in stunned silence for a moment, before Jaune asked the one question on everyone's minds.

"How? How did you come from the future?" Sighing, Phil looked to Raelin, not wanting to answer for fear of facing the wrath of his mother's past self. She gives him a 'really?' kind of look, to which he motions toward Weiss with his eyes. She nodded in understanding, having seen the angry heiress in the future. After hearing about how she was in school, she could understand his reluctance.

"Well, to put it simply, we got here on accident" she said.

"Wait, how do you just accidentally time travel?" asked an incredulous Jaune. The rest of his team were just as confused.

"Umm, we kinda accidentally blew up a big warehouse full of lots of dust" Solaris said. The rest of her team gave her looks of shock at her lack of tact. Weiss turned to glare at Phil.

"Speaking of which, just what were you thinking?! You just let your team into a dust warehouse and you just _let_ them blow it up? Why?" Weiss demanded. Phil mentally groaned. _I knew this was coming. Better get this over with._

"We've been sneaking into Shnee Company warehouses for years, mom. Don't get the wrong idea, we never steal anything, it's just fun getting a sneak peak at some of the stuff before it hits the market. Also, I didn't just _let_ them blow it up. I specifically asked Raelin to watch Solaris, since she doesn't always pay attention to her surroundings. I specifically told her that we don't need any accidental explosions. She's normally very responsible, but she got distracted at the wrong moment, okay?"

"No, it's not okay! You said that you blew up the biggest shipment in years! Do you know how much money was lost? What about the stockholders? What will I tell them? Not to mention that we probably believe you're all dead! Did you even think about that? And you!" at this point Weiss turned her wrath to Raelin, "What could be so important that you failed to keep an eye on your partner?" At this point Raelin hung her head, until Solaris stepped in for her.

"Look, don't blame her for my mistake. I leaned onto a control panel, not realizing my elbow was going to hit a button. She can't be expected to see every little move I make. It was my mistake, okay?" Raelin looked up, sending a silent 'thank you' to her partner. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to placate the irate heiress.

"No, it's not okay. How did you even get into the warehouse? Those are normally locked, especially at night. How did she not notice you were too close to a control panel? Forgive me if I'm being unreasonable, but this isn't something that can simply be brushed off. Has anyone considered the fact that there may be serious consequences to their being here?" Everyone had been listening to her tirade in shock, before her last question sunk in. JSPR looked at each other, sharing worried looks. Jack was especially worried, considering the fact that his father was a time traveler. _There's a good chance that the others will still be born, but what if my dad never comes here with us already being here? Does that mean that I'll never be born? Will I simply fade out of existence? How do we fix this?_ These questions and more kept repeating themselves in his mind. _Hopefully we didn't mess up too bad, and dad will still show up. With any luck we'll even get to go back to our own time._ Finally, Phil decided to continue the explanation, bringing Jack out of his thoughts.

"The reason we're always able to get into the warehouses is because I get the codes off of your scroll" he said. The look of shock on her face was priceless.

"How did you get the password? I never tell anyone, and I seriously doubt that would ever change!" she demanded.

"Dad told me. It was actually pretty easy for him to figure out, considering you use it for pretty much everything" he said with a shrug. Her face went from shock, to fear, to anger all in a matter of seconds.

"I'm going to kill him! I don't care what it does to the time line, I'm going to kill him!"

"Mom! He hasn't even done anything yet. Besides, it's so unoriginal that I would've figured it out anyway. All it is is password, capitalize the P and the D, replace the A with , the S's with 5's, and the O with 0. Strong in theory, weak in originality. Also, you love the guy, or you at least you will" he explained, trying to save his will-be father.

"You just told everyone my password! You're worse than your father! At least, I think you are! Or, you will be! Ugh, I hate time travel!" Throwing up her hands in defeat, Weiss finally gave up and decided that now would be a good time to change the password on her scroll. Phil breathed out a sigh of relief. _That was excruciating. I wonder if she'll ever change it back. What kind of damage did I just do, anyway? Hopefully everything is still okay._

"So how did the warehouse get blown up, anyway? All we got was something about Solaris leaning on a control panel?" Pyrrha asked, deciding that now would be a good time to move on. Raelin did her best to relate the events to them, leaving out what exactly distracted her. _I can't believe I got so distracted by a mouse of all things! Of all the cliché things, it had to be a big, fat, juicy, mouse... snap out of it!_ Shaking her head, she tried to think on other things, like the conversation. Unfortunately, it had stopped. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Solaris broke the silence.

"Oh man! I just realized that we're going to be stuck listening to oldies!"

"Um, that's because they're not oldies. They're still fairly new" Phil explained, although he already knew where this was going.

"Exactly! Achieve Men, Backyard Girls, Johnny and the Puppy Dogs, Hugg, the list of moldy oldies goes on. And they're all new and popular right now!" In her panicked state, she had accidentally activated her semblance, threatening to burn down RWBY's dorm. Quickly, her teammates rushed over to pull her off of Blake's bed, threatening to dump water on her if she didn't douse the growing flames on her body. It took several tries, but eventually she was able to get her semblance back under control.

"What's so bad about Achieve Men? They're my favorite band" Yang asked. Jack cringed, knowing just how tenuous a grip his cousin had on her semblance right now.

"We know, you forced her to listen to them a _lot_ growing up, along with making me and anyone else who came over listen as well. They may always be _your_ favorite, but we are not fans of theirs. I can't tell you the number of times she came over just to get away from your music" Jack explained, hoping that would be the end of it. Yang, for her part, looked slightly hurt. _She seemed so much like me, I just thought that we would be the same._

"She's more like you than you realize" Blake said, placing a comporting hand on her partner's shoulder. Yang gave her a questioning look. "Think about it. Your favorite band happens to be very popular right now. If she's complaining about modern bands now, then it makes sense that her favorites would be whatever is popular in their timeline" she explained. Slowly, Yang nodded. She was still sad, but no longer hurt. Suddenly, Pyrrha jerked in her spot where she was standing beside Jaune, almost knocking him over.

"Sorry! I just remembered that we have that quiz for Doctor Oobleck tomorrow! We need to study!" With that, she grabbed Jaune by the hand and rushed out the door, then down the hall toward the library. Ren shrugged, then left with Nora in tow, who was promising to hang out with 'RWBY's kids' later. Jack turned back to team RWBY and gave Ruby a puzzled look.

"This quiz, would it happen to be on the discovery of aura, and it's early days?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just making sure we're on the same page. We studied yesterday"

"Oh, well so did we! Now what?" Everyone took a moment to think over what they would do.

"We do still need to get settled into our room. Why don't we go into town and get some clothes and other essentials?" Raelin asked her team. They agreed, and left for Vale, leaving RWBY all alone. They looked at each other, not sure how to spend their afternoon. After tossing a few ideas, including more studying (which showed how truly desperate they were to even suggest such a thing), Ruby suddenly had an idea. Rummaging through her belongings, she finally gave a cry of triumph as she held up a box high above her head, letting out a 'da da da daaa!' as she did so. Turning around to face her team, she asked one simple question, as she showed them the box.

"How about a game?"

After a good couple of hours of getting all of the essentials, as well as some decoration for their room, team JSPR was finally headed back to Beacon. As they were nearing the school, they noticed a lot of military airships arriving. The ships looked to be of Atlesian design. _Well, this is weird,_ Jack thought. _I wonder if that Ironwood guy that dad told me about is still in charge in Atlas? Dad told me he has a tendency to overreact, and I think he handled security for the Vytal Festival at some point. Personally, I think Winter does a better job as headmaster, from what I heard anyway. Still, can't beat Ozpin._

After dropping everything off in their dorm, the team went to the library in search of RWBY and JNPR. When they arrived, they found RWBY playing _Remnant, the Game,_ and half of team JNPR actually studying. Nora appeared to be sound asleep, while Jaune was reading a comic book. As they watched, Pyrrha took away his comic and pushed a book toward him, as a silent reminder to study. Meanwhile, Yang was trying to teach Weiss how to play their game. She pointed out a very good move to play, only to crush her with a trap card. When it came to Blake's turn, however, she wasn't even aware of what was going on, as if she had been lost in thought the whole time.

Jaune tried to play a hand for Weiss, but she refused, not believing him capable. Sun came up with Neptune in tow, deciding to formally introduce him. The meeting between him and Weiss was a bit awkward at first, considering the revelations from earlier in the day, but they quickly warmed up to each other to the point that they could be amiable towards each other. Blake, however, left quickly after Sun tried talking to her. _I hope her brushing him off like that isn't because of earlier,_ thought Raelin. Shrugging, Neptune decided to take Blake's spot, since the game was still only beginning.

JSPR decided to watch the game for a bit, and after a couple of turns it became apparent that they made a good choice, as Yang kept growing frustrated that Neptune was beating her. Ruby tried to advise her, but Yang didn't listen and fell for one of Neptune's trap cards. A couple more turns later, and Yang was taken out of the game, with the rest of RWBY soon following suit, thus declaring Neptune the winner.

"What's wrong mom? Don't tell me you're feeling a little blue?" Solaris punned at her mother. Instead of cheering her up, it only served to rile her up even further.

"Not right now, Solaris! I can't believe he beat me! He just has the gall to come in, take over for Blake, and then crush me like that? I'll get even with him, just you wait!

"Whatever you say. Just don't trap yourself doing so" she said, grinning at the clever pun. Okay, clever to her, at least. Yang, however, was still too worked up to be amused.

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!" she said, as she was walking into her room.

"You're just mad because the new guy beat you. See, if you had just attacked when I had told you, none of this would've happened" Ruby responded. At this point, JSPR decided to go into their room, so that they could get it together before turning in for bed. They left their door open, and could faintly hear Weiss talking, but they couldn't quite make out to whom. After a moment, Jack realized that his mom's favorite board/card game was left in the library, and decided to get it for her. Stepping out into the hallway, he saw three figures pass by him, before Ruby came rushing out of her room and crashing into one of the figures, a woman with dark skin and mint green hair. _Wait, dark skin and mint green hair? Why does that sound familiar?_ Jack looked at her other two companions. He was behind them, so he couldn't see their faces, but he could see that one companion was a slim male with silver colored hair, and the other was a woman with black hair and a sultry sounding voice. _While I can only see her back view, I have to admit that it seems to match her voice quite well,_ he thought. _Still, there's something about those three that have me on edge. I wonder... wait, didn't dad say that he was sent back in time to kill three people? Still, I have no proof if it's those three. Maybe I'm just on edge, given this whole going to the past thing and all. Hopefully a good night's rest will help clear my head._ Seeing that Ruby had went to go get her game, he went back into his room to help finish getting it ready. When they were finished, they stepped back to admire their work.

On one side of the room, there were two beds pressed against the wall near either corner, with space at the foot of each bed for a footlocker and room to access it. The same could be said for the other side, with four desks arranged in a circle in the middle of the room, facing toward each other. Against the wall bearing the single window were several shelves, bearing several books that were purchased today, as well as a radio/cd player with a port to plug a scroll in, allowing music from a scroll to be played through the speakers. Covering the window was a thick black curtain that could block most of the sunlight, allowing the four teens to sleep in on the weekends if they so chose. The blanket/pillow sets on the beds matched the four teammates preferred colors respectively, being red, white, black, and yellow. The walls were bare, considering the fact that there were no band posters that they liked, and they didn't have the money for any nice paintings that they could find. Finally satisfied with their work, Jack looked to his team before speaking.

"Well team, I think I'm satisfied with our room. Can anyone think of anything else?"

"Well, I eventually want to get some paintings or pictures of some sort hung up. We're short on lien, though. We still need to determine what we're going to do for money" Phil replied, already thinking of a few options.

"Can it wait? I'm bushed!" Solaris asked, letting out a big yawn as she did so.

"I agree. We're not going to get very far if we're (Solaris) falling asleep while trying to consider employment options" Raelin said.

"Okay team, all in favor of turning in for the night, say 'aye!'" said Jack.

"Sounds great!" said Solaris, mid yawn.

"Good idea" agreed Raelin.

"All right" nodded Phil, stretching before getting ready for bed.

"None of you said 'aye'" mumbled Jack. _They never say 'aye', and mom told me once that her team never said 'aye' either. What is this, a curse? Did Monty Oum decide to make it this way because he thought it was funny or something? Oh well._ Sighing, he started getting ready for bed as well. When all was ready, he turned out the lights, before making his way over to his bed.

"Night everyone"

"Night," came the replies, before they drifted off to sleep, bringing their first day in the past to a close.

 **And that concludes chapter four. I know it's shorter than my last chapter, and mostly dialogue, but I honestly didn't have much to work with. I can't have JSPR present for every single event that happens in the show, or there for every single conversation behind RWBY's closed door. The story just wouldn't be believable that way. Don't worry, there will be plenty of action coming up. I just thought it important that they get settled in, since they literally showed up with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and whatever money and items they had with them. Good thing they had their weapons! Trust me, they're going to need them, and I don't mean just for combat class. I won't give any spoilers, but let's just say that they made a much bigger mess than they realize. Now we have an idea of what their room looks like, and next up will be classes and maybe some Grimm hunting. Who knows? I just have a hazy idea with a few key plot points for the story as a whole. I actually make up most of it as I go. Any other writers do that? Anyway, I won't hold you much longer. If you would be so kind, please leave a review telling me what you think. I want to send a big thank you to Railsaraki3, who has been faithfully reviewing all of my chapters so far. I hope this meets your expectations, and I sincerely apologize if it doesn't. Once again, tell your mother you love her if you can. Seriously, she deserves it, if for no other reason than she brought you into this world AFTER carrying you for nine months straight. I hear that childbirth is the closest a woman comes to dying without actually doing so, and some actually do die giving birth. That instantly earns my respect right there. Oh, and one last thing. Mom, if you are reading this, I just want to say for all the world to see that I love you very much and I couldn't ask for a better mom. LOVE YOU LOTS!**


	5. Chapter 5

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Welcome back dear readers to another chapter of RWBY: Time Paradox! I'm very sorry for the late update. I was posting one a week, but life just got in the way this time. Also, my work schedule is kind of crazy right now, so it might take a couple of weeks to get the next chapter out as well. This turned out to be a lot longer than normal, so I hope that makes up for the wait. I just want to thank everyone who has been reading this so far. I previously mentioned that there will be several time lines that will be occasionally used in this story. There's the Fallen time line, the Altered time line, and the Current time line. I had mentioned that there may be one more, but I wasn't certain. Well, I decided that I will use it. I'm calling it the Mirror time line. Why? You will just have to wait and see. I won't use it for a little while, but don't worry, it will enter this story at some point. Now let's start the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY, Rooster Teeth does. I could never do it justice, I can only settle for my ideas and OCs.**

Chapter five:

-Altered Time Line-

Roman Torchwick was not having a good day. He spilled coffee on his favorite suit, the bills were piling up, his neighbors kept him awake half of the night with their constant fighting _again_ , and Neo decided to be insufferable, mocking him for his misfortunes. Honestly, he sometimes wonders if she enjoys watching him suffer. Add to that the lack of decent work recently and it's no wonder why he was in a foul mood. _Be a private investigator, he said. You'd be great at it, he said. He could of mentioned the part where I'm nearly flat broke all of the time._

-Flashback-

Roman was sitting in his jail cell, depressed at the lack of prospects. Of course, he wasn't giving his jailers the satisfaction of seeing it, oh no. If anything, he made sure to be extra annoying to them. After all, if he was going to have to suffer, then he would make sure that his jailers suffered as well, or his name isn't Roman Torchwick.

Ever since the death of Cinder Fall, Roman had been drifting from job to job. The moment the news of her death had reached his ears, he cut off all ties to the White Fang. He always hated working with those animals. They were idiots, every one of them, and he hated them. _Well, maybe I didn't hate all of them. Perry was pretty decent. Maybe I can find some work for him whenever I get out of here._

The entire reason he was sitting in a jail cell was that he had gotten sloppy. He had tried to rob a Shnee Dust Company transport truck, but failed to factor in local police checkpoints. It was a stupid rookie mistake, and he did not go a single day without berating himself for it. _I guess it just goes to show how desperate I've been getting. At least I was making money when I was working for Cinder. I thought I had everything accounted for, but I never figured the cops would be watching that truck as well. Heh, I guess I did_ _ **too**_ _good of a job with all of those dust heists._ As he sat there with his thoughts, a guard approached his cell. Looking up, Roman smirked at him.

"Hey, Billy, come to chat? Man, am I glad to see you. I'd actually like to file a complaint about these living conditions"

"Save it, Torchwick, you have a visitor" replied the guard in an unamused tone. _A visitor? The only person I could think of would be Neo. Maybe she came to bust me out?_ Following the guard, he soon found himself sitting in one of the chairs behind a thick pane of glass. On the other side of the glass was Neo and some kid he didn't recognize.

"Neo! Boy, am I glad to see you. You have no idea what it's been like in here. But I gotta ask, who's the kid?" Smiling, Neo turned to look at the kid, and motioned for him to speak. _Hmm, not sure I like how chummy she's acting with him. I hope she hasn't decided to sweep me under the rug or something. Not after all that I've done for her. Of course, I wouldn't be hurt or anything. Nope, not at all! I definitely don't need her, or miss her smiles, or the way her eyes can change colors, or the way she tilts her head at something that interests her... oh, who am I kidding? I can't tell her any of that, though._ Roman refocused his attention on the kid when he started speaking.

"Hello. I suppose you're wondering who I am and why I'm here. My name is Johnathan Flint, and I have a deal to offer you" at the mention of a deal, Roman suddenly became much more interested.

"A deal, huh? What kind of deal could a kid like you offer me? Candy for my freedom? Or maybe a lollipop? Ooh, how about a video game?" Roman knew he was being obnoxious, but he had to test the mettle of this kid. After all, he wasn't going to make a deal with someone who backed down at the first sign of opposition. Besides, what could this kid really have to offer someone like him? It's not like he had the money to pay bail. Roman was suddenly caught off guard when he saw Neo glaring at him, giving him a look that said 'play nice or else.' _What in Remnant has this kid done to her to get her to act like this?,_ he thought.

"Nice try, Roman. I might take you up on the video game offer later, but I have something much better right now. I have the means to pay bail for you, but only on one condition. Before you ask, yes, the money is legal. Let's just say that I've been very busy with taking side jobs getting rid of Grimm and White Fang soldiers. Also, I'm very good at what I do, so I'm in high demand. Interested?" John was smirking at Roman by the end of his question. Roman seemed to think for a moment, before asking his next question.

"Let's say I do take you up on your offer. What guarantee do I have that the same guy who offed my employer doesn't come after me? I mean, granted, I'm probably not much safer here, but maybe he hasn't come after me because I'm in jail. What's protecting me when I'm free?" Roman had been expecting to stump him with that question. What he didn't expect, however, was the grin that this kid gave him instead.

"Was your employer a dark haired woman, about my age, and named Cinder Fall?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then you definitely want to take me up on my offer. I'm the one who killed her, along with her two goons" John replied, grinning. To say that Roman was shocked would be an understatement. _This is the guy who killed Cinder? How? Why? What does he want with me?_ John, meanwhile, just enjoyed watching as Roman tried to recover from his shock. After a minute, Roman seemed to find his voice again.

"Okay, let's say I believe you. Before I hear your condition, I want to know why you did it. Why did you kill Cinder? Was she competition? Ex-girlfriend? Or maybe she rejected you to be with your best pal?" Roman couldn't help but grin as he asked. _If I'm gonna work for this kid, I'd best see if I get to enjoy it. Who knows? Maybe he'll communicate more than Cinder did._ John merely smirked at him

"I doubt you would believe me. But since you asked, I'm from the future. In my time, Cinder managed to succeed in conquering Vale, but was betrayed by Adam, leader of the White Fang. They take over, and humankind has had a rough go of things since then. I was sent back to stop all of that from happening. So I killed Cinder and her goons to prevent her plans from coming to fruition" Roman looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"Time travel? Really? Look, if you don't want to say, fine. But if you're gonna lie, at least try to do so convincingly. I'm not stupid" _Honestly, how stupid does he think I am? Nobody would fall for that lie._ John merely shrugged.

"I told you you wouldn't believe me. But it's still the truth. The reason I even bothered tracking you two down, which wasn't easy, by the way, is because I was close friends with Neo from my time. She saved my life when I was eight, and we were close since then. Your Neo," at this he jerked his thumb toward Neo standing beside him, "didn't believe me either. It wasn't until I started talking about the Neo I knew and sharing some of the stories she wrote for me about some of your adventures and misadventures together before she was convinced. Want me to share?" Roman almost said yes, but judging by the grin on his and Neo's faces, he realized that they were probably stories about his less than proudest moments. _Either he's telling the truth, which is unlikely, or Neo is in on his scheme and told him. Either way, he's got me in a tight spot. Wait a minute..._

"Say I do believe your story. Where was I at in all of this?" John seemed to hesitate before answering.

 **(Volume three spoiler!)** "Dead, actually. You were eaten by a Grimm during the Fall of Vale. So, technically, I saved your life by killing Cinder. You're welcome" **(End of spoiler. Please continue reading now.)**

"Okay, let's pretend I believe you. After all, I don't have anything better to do, so I'll play along for now. In exchange for my freedom, what do you want?"

"In exchange for my paying your bail, you will follow me to an old office building that I took the liberty of purchasing in your name. That will be your new office, which you will use to operate out of. You will give up your life of crime, and instead you will become a private investigator. Don't worry, you will be mostly free to choose your own cases. I do, however, want you to work alongside the police on at least two cases a month, if possible. I will be checking, so don't even think of lying to me about a lack of police cases. Agreed?" Now Roman truly felt like he was being insulted.

"Let me get this straight. You want me, Roman Torchwick, one of, if not the biggest names in the criminal underworld, to play nice and be a private investigator? No thanks, pal. I think I'll have more fun in jail" Roman sat back, confident that John would back down after being refused.

"First, I never said you had to play nice. You still get to insult the cops, if you want. I highly doubt you would quit if I asked. I do recommend that you try to build a decent work relationship with a few of them, though. It will make things easier for you. I'm just asking that you stop being a crook. As for being a private investigator, I think you'll be a natural at it. Who better for it than you? You have contacts all over the city, you can con your way in and out of just about anything, and you understand criminals, being one yourself. Also, you're smart. A lot smarter than you let on, actually. You also have Neo, which is a big plus. She can work as your secretary, or aid you on cases, or whatever. I'll let you two work that out. But I'm warning you now, she and I have already discussed this. She believes me, and she has already agreed to the deal. Should you decline, she will be _very_ displeased with you, and I will not be responsible for what happens to you, nor will I admit to knowing anything. I might even be tempted to help dispose of any incriminating evidence. She will move on with her life, and I will make sure that she is taken care of, while you rot in prison, or worse. So I recommend that you choose wisely"

Roman could only blink as he listened to John. Neo, his most loyal partner, not only believes this kid, but actually agreed to his terms? _That little traitor! Grr, I guess I don't have much choice. Who knows what she'll do to me if I refuse? I highly doubt that whatever she does won't be painful, though. This kid really knows how to work a guy._

"Okay, fine, you win. But why would the cops even work with me? I'm not even licensed, and I'm a criminal. This plan of yours was doomed from the start, kid" Roman knew that he was grasping at straws, but just the very thought of him going straight was enough to turn his stomach. If there was even one flaw in this kid's plan, then he would pounce all over it. Unfortunately, John gave him his biggest grin yet.

"Let's just say I have a lot of sway with the police. As it turns out, a good friend of mine happens to be extremely tech savvy. Turns out half of the cops here in Vale have some dirty secrets they don't want getting out, including the chief. Download a couple of copies of a list containing their secrets, mention it in casual conversation, and suddenly they're very willing to help. So no worries about them not wanting your help on cases" John said all of that like it was something to be proud of, and while it pained him to admit it, Roman was actually kind of impressed. This kid was willing to blackmail half of Vale's police force, including the chief, just to get him to turn his life around. _That's pretty contradictory, definitely underhanded, but impressive nonetheless. Gotta give him points for trying._

"That still doesn't solve the license problem" Roman pointed out. _If he managed to get me a legal PI badge, I'll eat my hat._ John gave him a smirk that rivaled his own as he held up a badge, complete with Roman's picture and info.

"Who do you think arranged for you to take those classes? Didn't you find it odd in the least little bit that you were the only student?" _I wonder what kind of seasoning I should use to make it palatable? I can't believe he actually managed to pull that off. This kid is definitely more devious than Cinder._ Roman finally sighed in defeat.

"Okay, you win. I'll do it. I'll be a good guy. Now can we please get out of here?"

-End Flashback-

Roman sighed. True, he did have some fun with being a PI. He usually had fun making fun of the cops, and he even made a couple of acquaintances along the way. After a couple of successful cases, one of them mentioned his favorite coffee shop that supposedly sold the best doughnuts in all of Vale. It was some hole-in-the-wall place that Roman normally wouldn't look twice at. Still, he decided to try it one day. Turns out that they not only had the best doughnuts, but they had the best coffee, as well. Roman was very surprised to find himself quickly becoming a regular. As a bonus, it was right beside an ice cream shop that Neo quickly fell in love with, so she was happy.

Still, there were times that Roman missed the old life. He supposed he always would. With the lack of decent cases recently, which translates to a lack of money, this was one of those times where he was sorely tempted to pull off a robbery, or a con, or something. But whenever John isn't checking in on him, Neo is watching him like a hawk. Roman was never really fully convinced of his whole time travel story, but after building up some good rep with the police he managed to get a background check done on the kid. What he found was surprising, to say the least. Much to his dismay, the strange remains of what appeared to be some kind of mechanical capsule of unknown origin, combined with the lack of records on him before showing up at Beacon at age 17, lent credibility to his story. When he found that, Neo shot him a 'told you so' look. Roman merely grumbled at the dead end he had reached.

Roman was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of his scroll ringing. Pulling it out, he noticed that the call was from John. _Talk about good timing. All of these years later, and he's still got it._ He decided to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Roman, I need you to get to the SDC storage warehouses ASAP. I have a case for you"

"Okay, be there in a few. Who's the client?"

"I am" Now that caught his attention. While it wasn't unusual for John to get him a few cases, he had never been the client. Roman was interested, to say the least.

"You are? What's up?" Normally, he would make a wisecrack about Red breaking up with him, or needing to tail some dame that John felt wasn't good for his son, but the tone of his voice told him that this was the worst time for that. _I think all these years of being a good guy is making me soft. Either that, or the punishment Neo would give me if she found out I'm harassing John again. Eh, probably the second one. Seriously, does she have to use that parasol of hers on me? I'm regretting ever getting that for her._

"It's the kids. Jack and his team are missing, and this is their last known location" If John didn't have his complete attention before, he certainly did now. Roman Torchwick was a lot of things, but he wasn't heartless. He knew these kids their whole lives, and they really grew on him. Not that he would ever admit it, of course. Gotta keep up appearances, you know. He and Neo even babysat them a couple of times.

"On my way" Roman grabbed his things and left as quickly as he could. He pushed the speed limit the whole way, praying to Monty Oum above that they were okay. When he finally got there, he found John already there, waiting impatiently for him. Roman flashed his badge to the guard at the entrance, and together they went into the remains of the warehouse. Once inside, Roman let out a low whistle at the scene of destruction before them.

"You said this was their last known location? If they were inside, then it really looks bad for them. You know that, right?"

"I know. Except there were no bodies found, and security footage doesn't show them leaving. Even factoring all of the different types of dust here, there should still be some remains here, somewhere. It's like they just disappeared" Roman could see the stress eating away at him. Despite the circumstances of their first meeting, John had become one of the few people in his life that he could almost call a friend. Almost. After all, he still couldn't afford to have people be too close. Well, maybe he could, but why risk it?

Sighing, he decided to review any footage that was recovered. From the footage, he could see Phil letting his friends into the warehouse. Roman knew about their habit of sneaking into the warehouses over the years. Everyone did, except for Weiss. No way was anyone about to tell the Ice Queen about that, even if she had mellowed some over the years. As he watched, he saw Phil talk to Raelin, possibly asking her to keep an eye on Solaris with all of that dust. Honestly, that blonde could be a real clutz when she wasn't paying attention. Sure enough, he saw as she decided it would be a good idea to lean against a control panel without checking to see if there were any buttons that she would accidentally press. The container dropped down, Jack went into a sneezing fit, and boom went the warehouse, knocking out the cameras. Rewinding, he noticed that Raelin seemed distracted by something during the moments when Solaris leaned against the control panel. _Odd, she's normally very responsible. With all of that dust, you'd think she would be extra vigilant in keeping watch on her teammates._

Deciding to return to the warehouse, Roman told John what he had discovered. Together, they searched the area that Raelin had been staring, wondering what sort of vital clue they would find. Something that grabbed her attention to the point where she failed to notice her teammate's careless action must certainly be important, right? After an hour of searching, they failed to find anything even remotely interesting. Out of frustration, John kicked at some rubble. Out of the rubble came the largest, fattest mouse either man had ever seen. The two looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"You don't seriously think?" John began.

"It's the best lead we've gotten" replied Roman.

"But there has got to be another explanation" John halfheartedly denied.

"I'm all ears, but there aren't any other clues. We searched the whole place"

"Oh great. On any other occasion, Yang would love this. Who's going to tell Blake?" sighed John.

"Good luck explaining that to miss Kitty Kat. I'm sure not going to tell her. She still greets me with her weapons ready whenever I see her. How do you think she would react when I tell her that her daughter and friends got blown up over a mouse?" Roman replied. John sighed, before smirking a little.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. If I don't make it back, tell Ruby I love her" the two shared a grin before departing, John to deliver the news to everyone, and Roman to look for anymore possible leads. _Yup, definitely almost friends. I just hope that those kids are okay, wherever they are._

-Current Time Line-

Jack woke up to the sound of knocking at his door. Groaning, he stumbled out of bed and staggered his way to the door, before opening it. Outside was team RWBY, and they apparently wanted to come inside. He couldn't quite process what they were saying, yet. He never was one to be fully functional upon first waking up, hence, he was unable to really process most of what they were saying. Once inside, he shut the door, then proceeded to try to finish waking up while team RWBY woke up the rest of his team. _That's it, next item on the list is a coffee maker for our dorm,_ he blearily thought. Meanwhile, while his team was getting up, RWBY was taking a look around the dorm.

"Well, your room looks... nice" Ruby hesitantly spoke.

"It certainly looks... functional" Weiss added, after some hesitation.

"It's not bad" said Blake, mentally noting the sparse collection of books on the bookshelf.

"It's a bit bare, don't you think? I mean, no posters, or TV, just a radio and a few books. Come on!" Yang said. The others on her team couldn't even glare at her, although Weiss tried to. They were thinking the same thing.

"Uh, mom, you do know that the only money we have is what was on us, right?" Solaris asked. Yang just looked at her blankly.

"Phil's rich, right? Couldn't he get it?" she said. Phil gave her the same look that Weiss does when she thinks she's being an idiot, showing just how much they were related.

"Most of my money happens to be in a secure bank account, with only a small amount of lien on my person for emergencies. Since I'm not born yet, I have no bank account, hence no money" he explained, much to Yang and Ruby's embarrassment for not realizing it.

"Makes sense, that's what I do. Unfortunately, it fails to plan for situations like this" Weiss said, wondering what should be done now. In all honesty, how could anyone plan for something so unprecedented as this?

"Aren't we forgetting the reason we came? Officially, that is" Blake reminded her team. They immediately perked up at remembering the reason they came to wake their new neighbors and future children.

"Oh, that's right! Professor Goodwitch dropped these off while you were out shopping yesterday!" she said, handing them packages that contained their school uniforms.

"You guys are going to have breakfast with us, right?" Yang asked. They each affirmed that they would, with the guys in the bathroom to change separately from the girls. After changing, they went to leave, before Blake stopped Raelin, much to everybody's confusion.

"Wait. I need you to wear this everywhere you go while you're here" she said, holding out a ribbon to her. Raelin looked at her, confused.

"Why? You never made me wear one before, not since I was old enough to pick out my own clothes. Why now?"

"I just need you to, okay? Most people don't know I'm a Faunus, and I'd like to keep it that way. If people see your ears, that will lead to too many questions" Blake responded. Now Raelin was starting to get angry.

"So what if they see? What's the big deal? I'm proud to be a Faunus, and I thought you were, too! Who cares what others think?"

"Just do it, ok?! It's not just for me, it's for you as well. I don't know how things are in the future, but right now it's not a good time to be a Faunus. I want to be seen for who I am, not what I am, and I want the same for you!" Blake said, her voice starting to rise in volume.

"No you don't! You're just worried about being found out as a Faunus! Don't even try to use me as an excuse!" Raelin yelled right back.

"I'm not using you as an excuse! I'm trying to spare you!"

"Then spare me the excuses! You only want me to wear that so no one suspects you!"

"HEY!" Jack yelled, finally getting a moment of quiet from the two Faunus in the room. "Look, can you argue about this later? We're starving, and we have classes today. Raelin, just wear the stupid thing. You can argue about it later"

"But-"

"No buts. We don't have time for this. Just wear it for today, then fight about it later, please? Just one day isn't going to kill you" he pleaded. Raelin wanted to argue, she really did. But out of all of her team, Jack was her closest friend, and the person she paired up with during initiation. So, reluctantly, she relented.

"Fine, but I'm doing this under protest" she said, snatching the ribbon out of Blake's hand and tying it into a bow on her head, covering her cat ears. The whole time, she refused to meet Blake's eyes, or even look at her. As soon as the bow was tied, she walked out of the room, not even trying to hide her displeasure at having to wear the bow. Blake sighed.

"I really am concerned about her. Yes, I don't want attention drawn to me, but I'm also trying to look out for her. I just don't want her to be treated the way most Faunus are" she said, sadly.

"Really? Because it didn't really sound that way" replied Yang.

"Yang!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Well, it's true" Weiss said, for once actually defending Yang, something not lost on the team.

"Can we please just go get something to eat now? I would like to actually enjoy my food before rushing off to class because we are running late again" protested Solaris. The other two members of her team agreed, followed by team RWBY, with Blake still silent over the recent fight with her daughter.

At the table, teams RWBY, JNPR, and JSPR all sat together, although Raelin still refused to look at Blake, and barely even participated in the conversation.

"What's wrong, Raelin?" Jaune asked.

"I don't want to talk about it" Raelin replied.

"She's angry because Blake made her wear that bow" Solaris interjected.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Raelin snapped back. Sighing, she pulled out a book and started reading. Hoping to ease the tension somewhat, Pyrrha glanced at the title of the book.

" _The Longest Hunt_ , huh? What's that about?" she asked.

"It's about a hunter from another world who finds himself in this world, facing a dangerous threat much like the one from his world. Unfortunately, his methods for dealing with the problem lead to friction with everyone around him" Raelin responded.

"Wow, sounds good. Who's the author?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know the author's real name, but the pen name is NaughtFiction" Everybody except her teammates stared at her.

"What kind of a name is NaughtFiction? That doesn't even make sense!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Actually, NaughtFiction is a very popular and highly recommended author in our time. He or she also wrote a companion novel to _The Longest Hunt_ , titled _Chisa's Side Stories_ " said Jack, holding up a copy. "I actually borrowed this from Raelin. Both books mention another book that became so popular that it received its own print, believe it or not"

"A book from a book? This I have to see" said Yang. Jack and Phil looked nervously at each other, since they both owned a copy, and the females of their team had yet to know about it. Solaris noticed this and nudged Raelin, who looked up just in time to catch the look between the two males.

"Okay, boys. Spit it out. Did you really buy it?" demanded Solaris, knowing full well what book they were referring to. All four of them had read both of NaughtFiction's works, so they were fully aware of what book he was referring to. The two males meekly nodded. The two girls just sighed and shook their heads, partly in disappointment, and partly in amusement. The other two teams, however, had no clue as to what they were referring to.

"Well what is it? Is it anything like _Ninjas of Love_?" Yang asked, knowing about Blake's secret stash of highly suggestive romance novels. Both males quickly denied. Rolling her eyes, Solaris decided to tell.

"It's called _How to Pick Up Fair Maidens_ " she said. "It's basically a book about dating tips for guys as well as social etiquette. Also, apparently it's really successful" at that last part she received several looks of doubt.

"I still don't understand why someone would choose such a strange name to be known by" Weiss said, crossing her arms. Solaris rolled her eyes before answering.

"It's actually a pretty good name. You see, the author and stories are actually from this really cool site, and-" she was suddenly interrupted by Raelin.

"Solaris, before you continue, let me remind you of what happened last time when Jack broke the fourth wall" at that, all three of her teammates cringed.

"Ouch, that's harsh. Multiple lightning strikes on a clear day while indoors. Yeah, Solaris. You might want to reconsider what you were about to say" Phil added. Solaris nodded before quickly stuffing her mouth with more breakfast. The other two teams looked at them with confusion. Jack decided to try to clear some of it up.

"Before you ask, no, I won't go into details. Let's just say that I accidentally broke the fourth wall, got zapped by lightening multiple times, and I still have a few scars to prove it. How did I break the fourth wall? I'd rather not talk about it, in case I get zapped again. Trust me, it hurt a lot" While they were still confused, they nodded in reply.

"Um, what exactly is a fourth wall?" Ruby asked sheepishly.

"It's basically an imaginary wall that keeps performers and characters from recognizing or addressing an audience. Like in a book or a movie, the characters don't realize that you are watching them. When someone "breaks" the fourth wall, they specifically mention something pertaining to the audience watching them, showing awareness of them, despite the fourth wall that should be keeping them from being aware. What I don't understand is how they could break the fourth wall in the real world" Blake explained. Team JSPR cringed and suddenly seemed very interested in their meals. Blake sighed before going back to her food.

Later, they were in combat class with professor Goodwitch. They had already sat through botany and field medicine with professor Peach, as well as history with doctor Ooblek (who seemed to talk even faster than they were used to, probably from being younger). Goodwitch was selecting students to fight, and decided on Yang and Solaris. The two blonde brawlers grinned and looked at each other, both eager for the fight. As they made their way down, their teams cheered them on.

They stood facing each other in their respective battle stances. While Yang with with a more traditional kickboxing stance, Solaris took a stance that was somewhere between kickboxing and martial arts. At the signal,they both rushed each other, both connecting their fists against each other, the resulting shock wave forcing them apart. With matching grins they ran toward each other again and began to exchange a fierce flurry of punches and kicks. For two whole minutes they continued to punch, kick, and block, with neither one having a clear advantage. Finally, Solaris jumped backwards, creating space between herself and Yang.

As Yang rushed towards her, Solaris spun in place, allowing her braid to whip out and catching Yang in the head with the amber stone in her braid. While it didn't cause any real damage, it was painful enough and unexpected enough to cause her to stumble. Finishing her spin, she hooked her foot behind Yang's and took advantage of her surprise to trip her, causing her to fall. As she fell, Solaris drove her fist down, firing a round at her torso, effectively bringing Yang's aura level to about half. Not wanting to end the match right away, Solaris stepped back to allow Yang to get back up. Getting up, Yang slammed her fists together, activating her semblance. Grinning, Solaris copied her, activating her own semblance. They rushed towards each other again, exchanging blows. Blow for blow, enhanced strength versus flaming strikes, the match went on, neither side giving ground. On and on the match dragged, with both combatants landing hits on each other.

Suddenly, Yang faked a punch, only to deliver a swift knee to Solaris's stomach when she went to block. Not letting up, she delivered a straight jab to her face, firing her gauntlet for good measure, causing Solaris to go flying a few feet. Now, both girls were nearly eliminated due to low aura. One more good strike would end the match for either combatant. Realizing this, they each knew that they had to give it their best shot. Yang ran toward Solaris, hoping to overpower her with her semblance. Solaris, on the other hand, merely held her ground, flames licking all over her body, as well as trailing from her eyes. As Yang was drawing back her fist, Solaris suddenly shot out her hand with her palm pointed forward. A small fireball shot out from her palm and struck Yang in the center of her chest, nearly depleting her of her aura. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match, with Solaris as the winner. As soon as the winner was announced, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Wow, talk about timing" Ruby said, still recovering from the amazing match they all just witnessed.

"Yeah, those two always loved to be dramatic with their spars" Jack said. "We're just lucky they didn't cut it any closer, I guess they must be getting hungry or something."

Blake, meanwhile, tried to catch Raelin's attention, with little success. Every time Raelin met Blake's eyes, Raelin quickly looked away and refused to look at her, much less speak to her. Seeing she wasn't going to get anywhere with her without causing a scene, she gave up for now with a sigh of frustration. Once their respective blonde brawlers were ready, they left to get lunch.

While they were eating, Jaune asked how they had managed to explain how they looked so similar to team RWBY, without giving away the fact that they were time travelers.

"It's simple, really" Phil said, laughing. "we told them we ARE time travelers." At this the rest of his team chuckled, with the exception of Raelin, who looked slightly less annoyed over the whole bow situation. Jaune gave a confused 'huh?' before Yang decided to elaborate.

"Obviously no one bought it. So Jack is Ruby's cousin, Solaris is my sister that we never knew about, Phil is actually Neptune's brother, but with a disowned Shnee parent that just so happens to exist, and Raelin is Blake's sister from outside the kingdom"

"But what happens when the disowned Shnee is questioned?" Pyrrha asked.

"It turns out that my aunt Hilda recently died, so there's nothing to worry about. Also, it turns out that Neptune's father is a notorious womanizer, so it's highly possible since she went to live not to far from him. Add to that the fact that she was disowned for refusing to stop certain... activities that were similar to his, and it's more than likely a decent alibi" Weiss explained.

"Oh, okay. I hope it holds up if asked" Jaune answered.

"It will," was Weiss's confident reply. After lunch was math and statistics with professor Brown, followed by dust alchemy with professor Primm. Their final class for the day was Grimm Studies with professor Port. Team JSPR was not surprised to find that he was just as boring in his younger days as he was in their time, with many of his stories still the exact same, if slightly less embellished. As class neared it's end, Jaune started asking Weiss a few questions, which she completely ignored. When her alarm went off, signaling the end of class, she answered his questions.

"No, no, no, yes" she said without looking at him, with the yes directed toward if she had heard him. Jaune sighed before placing his head on the desk, with Yang saying 'one day' as she passed by. Phil just shook his head at the sight. _Even after finding out he doesn't get her, he still tries to flirt with her. Doesn't he know when to quit? He needs to wake up and see that the girl of his dreams has been right there all along._ Sparing the pitiful man another look, Phil left to join his team.

"Hey, is it just me, or did our moms seem a little _too_ eager to leave today?" Solaris asked.

"Remnant to Solaris, this is professor Port we're talking about. Who isn't eager to leave?" Phil replied, rolling his eyes.

"I know, I'm just saying. They practically bolted out of there first chance they got. Nobody has that much energy after his class unless they have something important to get to" Solaris defended.

"They did seem more distracted than usual, although it's hard to tell since everyone tends to zone out during his tales" Raelin added.

"Now that you mention it, I remember mom telling me about this one time where they fought a giant robot. Let's gear up and join them in case this is it" Jack said.

"Yes! I really hope it is, because that story was awesome!" exclaimed Solaris. They hurried back to their dorms and quickly got ready, before going to team RWBY's dorm, where they saw team RWBY as well as Sun and Neptune going over their plans. Weiss was just being dragged out of their door by Ruby when she bumped into Jack.

"Oh, hey Jack" Ruby nervously greeted him.

"Hey mom, mind if we come?"

"Well, um," Ruby began.

"Great, thanks! Solaris, Phil, you go with aunt Yang. Phil, please try to keep them out of trouble and Solaris, please, _try_ to behave. We're broke, remember? Raelin, go with your parents. I'll tag along with my mom" Jack said, with everybody staring at him in surprise.

"Um, Jack, I think I should-" Raelin began before Jack cut her off.

"No, there are some things you need to talk to them about, and you can do that on the way. I am not putting up with another day of you being moody over this whole bow situation. So take the time and talk. Please, don't make me pull rank. You know I hate doing that, and I honestly care about you, okay? This is for your own good, as well as for the good of the team as a whole"

"Fine" Raelin said, sighing in defeat.

"Wait, who gave you permission to just waltz in here and include yourselves in our mission?" Weiss demanded.

"We did," Solaris answered. "We heard some stories about your adventures together while we were growing up. If this is the one we're thinking of, then you could use the extra firepower"

"What's supposed to happen, exactly?" Blake asked.

"Giant robot" Jack answered with a shrug.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun" Phil added. Everyone just looked at each other before shrugging and heading off to their destinations. Jack followed Ruby and Weiss to the Cross-Continental Transmit System tower, or CCT tower. Weiss was talking about how Atlas had created it, and other boring stuff. Ruby started making fun of her for being smart and rich, before deciding that she wanted a picture of the tower. However, she fumbled with her scroll before dropping it, causing it to land at the feet of a familiar orange haired girl. Said girl picked up the scroll and handed it back to Ruby.

"Penny?!" asked Ruby, not believing her eyes at first.

"Uhh..." Penny stalled.

"Where have you been? We haven't seen you since that night at the docks" asked Ruby.

"S-sorry. I think you're confused" replied Penny, right before hiccuping, tossing the scroll into Ruby's hands as she did so. "Uh, I've got to go" She then quickly ran off.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked, wondering about the strange girl's behavior.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You go make your call, I'll meet up with you later!" yelled Ruby, as she took off after Penny.

"Wait! Ugh" said Weiss, when she realized that Ruby was already gone.

"I wonder why Penny was acting so weird" Jack wondered out loud.

"Wait, you know her?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, she's a good friend of my mom, uh, I mean Ruby. Anyway, she's some kind of super android soldier thing that is actually capable of producing an aura. She's the first of her kind, actually. Also, for some reason she hiccups whenever she tells a lie"

"Wait, she's an android?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"What, you didn't know that?! Oh crud, please don't say anything! I thought you knew already, and it's supposed to be a secret!" Jack begged.

"How did you know?" Weiss demanded, slightly hurt that her partner would keep this from her. Not that she was ready to admit it, or anything.

"Funny story, actually. Let's just say that there was an accident with a magnet that caused said magnet to stick to her. So, yeah, the secret was out at that point" Jack explained, chuckling nervously. Weiss facepalmed. _Seriously, a magnet accident? Do I even want to know? Ugh, never mind. Still, what's Ruby doing hanging around a weird android? At least it explains Penny's odd behavior, as well as why it felt like I smacked into a pole when I ran into her._

"Fine, but she had better tell me later. I don't like secrets. Now, please wait here while I make the call, alright?" Weiss said.

"Okay" Jack agreed.

Meanwhile Raelin was traveling to the White Fang base with Blake and Sun. She had been quiet, barely saying anything to Blake. Finally Sun had had enough.

"Okay, out with it. What is going on with you two? Jack said you needed to talk, so please just talk already!" Both girls were quiet and didn't answer right away.

"Mom is making me wear this stupid bow, just so she doesn't get caught as a faunus" Raelin finally said.

"I can't deny that is part of it, but I also want you to wear a bow for your own protection" Blake countered.

"Dad shows that he's a faunus, and he's fine!" Raelin retaliated.

"I'm just trying to protect you!"

"You're only protecting yourself!"

"Why can't you just listen to me?"

"Why are you being a coward?"

"Enough!" Sun finally shouted, sick of hearing the quickly escalating argument. "Raelin, how much of her past do you know?" Both girls seemed surprised at the question.

"Uh, she grew up outside of the kingdoms, fought a lot of Grimm, joined Beacon, met you, blah, blah, blah. Why?"

"Do you know anything else about before she joined Beacon?" he pressed.

"No. What's this got to do with anything?"

"These White Fang guys, she used to be a part of them. She left when they went all psycho terrorist, but she still did some criminal stuff in the name of equality. Now do you understand?" Raelin was quiet for a long moment. When next she did speak, her tone was much more subdued.

"You hide your ears in order to prevent anyone from connecting you to them?" she asked. Now it was Blake's turn to be quiet for a moment.

"That is the main reason, yes. But then I noticed that people treat me better when they think I'm human. It may be selfish of me, but I enjoy being seen for who I am, not just what I am, and I don't want to lose that. I won't pretend to know what your future is like, but here it's dangerous to be a faunus. There are a lot of people who will not hesitate to hurt you for no other reason than your race. I don't want that for you. Yes, I need to hide so I'm not connected to the White Fang. I did a lot of things that I am not proud of with them. But I am also trying to protect you" she explained, growing quiet at the end. Raelin did not answer for several long minutes, thinking about what she just learned. Finally, just as Sun was opening his mouth to demand a reply, she spoke.

"I still hate the bow. That won't change, and I look forward to not having to wear it anymore. There's still plenty of racists in my time, but my friends and I can handle them. I'm proud of who I am, and I'm proud of what I am. I don't want to hide, because I don't care what they think. This is me, and I want to be accepted for ALL of me, not who they think I am. But," At this she took a deep breath, "if it will help to protect you, whether it's from the White Fang or the local police, then I'll wear this stupid thing while in public. You're still my mother, or rather, you will be, and I will help you however I can. But this is coming off as soon as I'm in my dorm, okay? I really, really, REALLY, hate wearing this thing. It makes my ears itch" At the last sentence they couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Agreed. And thank you" Blake said with a smile. Raelin and Sun also smiled, and together they continued on toward their goal. Suddenly, Sun remembered something.

"So, uh, what's this I hear about a giant robot?"

 **And that is the end of this chapter, folks. And wow, this has to be the longest one yet! Thank you to everyone who waited so patiently for this. Life sometimes just gets in the way, but don't worry! When I posted that first chapter, I made a commitment to see this through to the end. I still hold to that commitment. This will be finished, whether it be once a week or every two weeks. If it has to be longer, it will, but this will be finished one day. I won't just let it sit here without good reason. Also, special thanks to NaughtFiction for letting me cameo his or her stories in this fic. The Longest Hunt and Chisa's Side Stories both belong to him/her, and are very good RWBY/Bloodborne crossovers. Seriously, you should read them if you haven't already. How to Pick Up Fair Maidens is a book that appears in Bloodborne, and is referenced in both of his/her fics. As far as I know, nobody is typing up a copy of How to Pick Up Fair Maidens. I just added that for comedic effect. What's RWBY without some humor? Anyway, review and tell me what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Hey everyone I'm back with the next installment of RWBY: Time Paradox! I'm kinda bummed that the last chapter didn't get any reviews, favorites, or even follows. One week late and it's like I'm getting the silent treatment, or something. At least people are still reading it, so that's what counts. I am very sorry this is almost a week later than when I said, but life got in the way. Between work, church, family activities, and other hobbies, I haven't been able to work on it like I wanted. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!**

 **I do not own RWBY, only my OC's and ideas.**

Chapter Six:

While Yang and Neptune took Bumblebee, Yang's motorcycle, to Junior's nightclub, Phil and Solaris used Phil's glyphs to navigate the city to Junior's. While unconventional, they didn't mind too much, although Solaris did miss her bike, which she had fondly named Yellowjacket. They arrived moments after Yang and Neptune did, with Neptune in a daze from Yang's fast driving.

"Come on, my friend's right in here" Yang said as she took off her helmet and jerked her thumb toward the nightclub. Loud dance music could be heard filtering outside of the tall, multi-storied building.

"Cool" Neptune said, still in a daze. He shakes his head for a moment in order to clear it. "And where exactly is... here?" he asked. Just then, Phil and Solaris landed on the ground beside them.

"Sweet. So this is Junior's, huh? I can't wait to get inside, you told me all about it, mom" Solaris said, looking at the building, then at Yang. Yang grinned back at her, then motioned her head for them to follow her inside. Phil groaned, dreading the trouble they were likely to get into. He had also heard the stories while growing up about how Yang trashed the place when she came looking for information to aid her in tracking someone. Preparing himself for the worst, he and Neptune followed the two blondes inside.

Inside the hallway leading to the club itself, two men dressed in black suits and red sunglasses spotted them, or rather, Yang. Even through the sunglasses it was apparent that their eyes widened in fear. They immediately took off down the hall and tried to shut the large double doors. They had them closed for not even a minute when Yang activated her Ember Celica and blasted the doors open.

"Guess who's back?" she called while stepping through the doors. Immediately she had dozens of guns pointed at her at point blank range. Seeing this, she began to scowl and glare at the men aiming at her.

"Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?" Neptune asks, walking up behind Yang.

"Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot!" a voice suddenly calls out. Just then Junior comes walking up through the crowd of black suited men. He was dressed in a white long sleeved dress shirt, black slacks, shoes, and gloves, a black button up vest, and a red neck tie.

"Blondie! You're here. Why?" he asked, clarifying that he was the one who spoke a moment ago. Yang smirks and points to him.

"You still owe me a drink" she says before walking up to him and dragging him off by the arm.

"Sounds good. I'll take a strawberry sunrise, please" Solaris says while following after them.

"Whoa, what a woman" Neptune states with a grin, staring after Yang. He then notices Melanie and Militia, Junior's bodyguards, staring at him. "Sup?" he says.

"Hmph. Whatever" they both say in unison, turning their noses up at him and walking away. Phil just shakes his head. _I guess that's three people I have to look after, not two. They should pay me for this,_ he thinks.

Meanwhile, Blake was tracing what looked to be three claw marks in the side of a building with her fingers. Peering around the corner, she saw a young male and female faunus walk up to an older gentleman, who gestured for them to step inside the door behind him.

"This is it" she says to Sun and Raelin.

"You sure?" Sun asks. _You have got to be kidding me. Really, dad? Did you just seriously ask her that?_ Raelin couldn't believe he just asked that. Blake must have had a similar line of thought, because she gave him a look that told him just how stupid his question was.

"You know, I'm just going to take your word for it" Sun said, raising his hands in surrender. Stepping out from around the corner, Blake removes her bow and walks toward where she saw the young couple enter. Following her lead, Raelin also removes her bow, breathing a sigh of relief as she did so. Hearing this, Sun gives her a sympathetic look and a smile of encouragement before following after Blake.

Inside was a long hallway. At the end, the same couple was seen being directed by a White Fang member to keep to the right of the hallway as they were new recruits. As they followed, Sun asked a question that had been plaguing him for a while.

"I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?" he asked.

"The masks are a symbol," Blake explained. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters"

"Grimm masks. That's kinda dark" Sun replied. _I have to agree with you there,_ Raelin thought.

"So was the guy who started it" Blake replied. By this point they had acquired their own Grimm masks. As Blake walked away, Sun let out a sigh.

"Always sunshine and rainbows with you" he muttered. Raelin patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry. She eventually gets better. Just keep trying. She actually does appreciate it more than she lets on" Raelin told him. Sun gave her a smile by way of thanks, and briefly hugged her. Then they put on their masks and followed Blake.

They soon found themselves in a large amphitheater like area with a stage at the end. There were a lot of people gathered inside, all of them faunus. There seemed to be mostly veteran members of the White Fang, with the new recruits gathered together in one bunch near the wall. They all seemed to be waiting for something, or someone. After a couple of minutes, the important looking White Fang member on the stage, who had previously been motioning for everyone to gather closely, started to speak. He was wearing a sleeveless version of the normal uniform, with tribal style tattoos on one arm. He was also wearing a full face Grimm mask, and he had a muscular build.

"Thank you all for coming," he began. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long" he said. As soon as he got done speaking, Roman Torchwick stepped out from behind the curtain that was hanging down at the center of the stage. _What? What is he doing here? Roman is helping the White Fang!? Oh man, Jack is gonna be crushed when he finds out. He really looks up to the guy. I guess this is what happens when we time travel to before Jack's dad convinced him to be a good guy._

"Thank you, thank you! Please, hold your applause" Roman said. As he was speaking, Neo also stepped out, but stayed in the background. _Of course she would be here, too. She has always supported him to my knowledge,_ Raelin thought.

"What's a human doing here?" a young woman with antler asked. Raelin noticed that it was the same woman they had followed in.

"I'm glad you asked, dearie" was his cheeky reply. _That's definitely Roman. That guy has a quip to just about anything._

"Now I'll be the first to admit, humans are the WORST," he continued. "Case in point," at this he pointed at himself. "So I understand why you would love to see us all locked away, or better yet: killed! But,"

"So, is he going somewhere with this, or..." Sun whispered to Blake. _I'm wondering the same thing,_ Raelin thought. She knew Roman used to be a criminal. Her mom made sure she was aware of that. But to see him working with the White Fang... she shook her head. _I think I understand why mom was always so distrusting of him now. He really was more of a crook than I thought. I wonder how Jack's dad got him to be a good guy? It must have taken a lot of coercion on his part._

"...would like to mention the fact that you and I ALL have a common enemy," Roman continued. "The ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms. Government. Military. Even the schools, they're all to blame for your lot in life" At that, the people began to cheer. _Great. Now he is a motivational speaker for a bunch of racist terrorists. Even I am starting to hate this guy, and I KNOW how he turns out. Jack is not going to want to believe this._

"And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room" he continued. _This doesn't make sense. Roman may have been a lot of things, but he was never a murderer. At least, I don't think he was. Was he?_

Roman then snaps his fingers, and the cloth behind him suddenly drops to the ground, revealing a giant Atlesian Paladin, repainted in a dark gray color and bearing a red White Fang symbol. While the crowd was cheering excitedly, Raelin had to stifle a gasp. _No way! He got them a Paladin? Sure, they're antiques, but in this time they must still be prototypes! Cutting edge tech and he got his hands on one? Roman Torchwick, what have you done?!_ Sun and Blake weren't faring much better. They could barely hide the look of shock on their faces. If the White Fang have this kind of firepower, then how could they ever hope to stop them?

"Oh, that's a big robot" Sun said, pointing out the obvious.

"How did he get that?" Blake asked.

"Good question. I'd like to know that myself" Raelin replied. Fortunately, Roman wasn't done talking.

"As some of you may have heard, this right here," at this he knocked on one of the Paladin's legs, "is Atlas' newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves" he said. _That's right, he had a boss at this time. Who was it again? I know it was a woman, and something about fire. Ember? Cindy? Ugh, I wish I could remember._

"Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the south east. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine. But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" he said while holding a cigar. It looked like it had been smoked a little, then extinguished and saved for later. Once again the crowd began cheering wildly. _Great, he's arming a bunch of terrorists with giant robots and motivating them to fight. Can this get any worse?_ Sun, Blake, and Raelin looked at each other.

"We should get out of here" Blake said.

"Will all new recruits please come forward" a White Fang member said.

"Welp!" Sun said as the new recruits push past him to obey. _Really dad? Welp?_

Meanwhile, Junior was slamming his glass down on the bar.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, holding his head in one hand, clearly frustrated.

"How can you not know?" Yang asked.

"I haven't talked to him. I haven't seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid upfront, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back" he replied.

"Speaking of which, is it true that you actually tried to kiss her, right before you and your men got your butts kicked?" Solaris asked with a tad too much enthusiasm. Junior merely glared at her and refused to answer.

"Who is this girl?" he asked Yang.

"Don't worry about her. Worry about me if I don't find out what I want" Yang replied in a rough manner.

"I already told you everything. Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them! Which is something I can relate to!" he yelled as he looked at some of his men who were lollygagging by the doors. Seeing that they weren't going to get anymore information, Yang decided to leave.

"C'mon Solaris" Yang said. Together they started walking away.

"Did we get everything we need?" Solaris asked.

"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully, the rest of the team is having better luck" Just as they were walking back, Phil was telling Neptune about when he and Solaris had snuck into a bar a couple of years back.

"So we were in this this older style bar, I think it was called 7th Heaven, or something like that. Anyway, Solaris drags me in there, and I was reluctant to go at first, but when I saw that woman working the bar I was MUCH more eager, let me tell you. This babe had the biggest, roundest, most perfect-"

"Most perfect what, Phillip?" Solaris interrupted, using his full name. Phil gulped. Whenever she addressed him by Phillip, instead of Phil, she was beyond angry with him. One look at her red eyes was evidence enough to confirm it.

"Uh, eyes! She had the biggest, roundest, most perfect blue eyes!" he said, hoping she would buy his obvious lie. Obviously, she wasn't. She walked up to him and suddenly slapped him in the back of his head without any warning, nearly knocking him to the floor in the process. Everyone looked at her, surprised at her action.

"What was that for!?" Phil asked, just as surprised as everyone else.

"Her eyes weren't blue, you dummy! If you had actually been looking at her eyes, instead of a little south from her face, then you would know that. They were actually a reddish brown!" And with that, she stormed off, with Phil following a moment after. Yang and Neptune just look at each other, still in shock.

"Did she really just slap him for talking about another woman's chest?" Neptune asked, completely confused.

"Yup. Looks like it" Yang replied.

"But why? They're just friends, right?" At his question, a slow grin began to form on Yang's face, as she began to understand her daughter's reaction.

"Maybe. But I think she likes him, and wants to be more" Neptune was puzzled for a moment, before the meaning of her words began to sink in.

"Wait, Phil doesn't know this?" he asked, hoping he was wrong.

"I doubt it. I don't even know if she knows it, but her actions are speaking for her. C'mon, we need to catch up" Before he could protest, Yang grabbed him by the arm and dragged him after their kids.

Back at the White Fang hideout, Blake, Sun, and Raelin were trying to figure out a way to escape without drawing attention to themselves.

"What are we going to do?" Sun whispered to Blake.

"I'm thinking" was her reply. Sun looks up to see Roman and Neo looking at them, with Roman pointing his now lit cigar at them.

"He sees us" Sun nervously whispered. Roman, angry at their intrusion, tosses his cigar to the side and starts walking toward them. Sun nervously waves at him while Blake continues to think.

"Really, dad? You're just going to wave at someone you consider an enemy? In a building full of bad guys, no less? What's the point of that?" Raelin couldn't help but whisper at him.

"I got nervous, all right? I didn't think, I just did. Besides, it's polite to acknowledge when someone is giving you their attention" Raelin just facepalmed. _I cannot believe my dad is being such a doofus right now. I know he's kinda goofy, but this is beyond ridiculous._ Blake, meanwhile, had noticed an electrical panel on the wall. Upon seeing that, a plan began to form in her mind.

"He can't see in the dark" she said, turning toward Sun and Raelin. Quickly, she pulled out Gambol Shroud and switched it to pistol form. Without a moment of hesitation, she fired one shot at the panel. She hit her mark, and all of the lights immediately went out, plunging the room into total darkness.

"Don't let them get away! Urgh!" a voice cried out.

"Sun! The window!" Blake called.

"Stop 'em!" another voice called. Suddenly, a machine started powering up. Blake, Sun, and Raelin dove out of the window and took off running. A moment later, the Paladin crashed through the wall and started running after them. The three faunus leapt onto a car, then jumped onto a nearby rooftop and started running across the rooftops of the city's buildings in an attempt to stay ahead of the Paladin.

"So you wouldn't happen to have, oh I don't know, some form of backup?" Sun asked.

"On it!" Blake replied.

"Please!" Raelin yelled. Blake activated her scroll and sent a message to the other three members of team RWBY.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" she began before being interrupted by Sun.

"HEELLLLLP!" Sun yelled. Weiss, who had just been exiting the CCT elevator while listening, just shook her head and started to run, grabbing Jack along the way.

"They've got a robot, and it's big, really big" Sun continued. Ruby grew really excited at hearing this.

"Oh, I am not missing this!" she said before running off.

"The Torchwick guy's in it! But not like, it didn't eat him, he's like, controlling it or something!" Sun said, continuing the description.

"Where are you guys?" Yang asked, sitting on her motorcycle with Neptune behind her and Phil and Solaris beside them. No sooner had she asked that when they ran through the street behind them being pursued by the Paladin.

"HURRRYY!" Sun yelled as he passed by.

"I think that was them" Neptune said.

"Yeah, I got it" Yang snapped back at him. Quickly turning her bike around, she sped off after the Paladin, almost making Neptune fall off. At this point, the three faunus were on a busy bridge full of traffic, forcing them to dodge traffic while trying to stay ahead of the Paladin. Rather than risking running on the road and getting hit, they were leaping from car to car. They kept this up, barely avoiding the Paladin as it tried to catch them. Yang and Neptune were the first to catch up, since they were using her motorcycle.

"We've got to slow it down!" she called to Neptune.

"Got it!" he said, before standing up on her still moving bike. He lowered his goggles and was patiently waiting to get closer to the robot, when the Paladin suddenly swatted some cars at them.

"Hold on!" Yang called. As she was about to swerve, several balls of fire suddenly hit the cars from the side, knocking them out of the way. Looking over, they saw Phil quickly summoning glyphs and he and Solaris, who was coated in raging flames, were leaping from glyph to glyph. Solaris gave them a quick wave, which Yang nodded in return. Reaching back, Neptune grabbed his gun and took aim, charging a burst of electricity. Neptune fired several shots, grabbing Roman's attention. Quickly switching his gun to a guandao, or a staff with a long blade at one end, he leapt up and brought it down on the machine, switching his weapon to a trident right before impact. Sun, who had still been leaping across vehicles ahead of the Paladin, looked back and saw Neptune hanging from the robot.

"Neptune, hang on!" he shouted. Sun brought his hands together, palms touching, and two yellow aura clones ran forward from him. His semblance doppelgangers leapt across traffic and exploded on impact with the robot. Sun then leapt up toward Roman with his staff poised to strike. Unfortunately, Roman managed to shake Neptune loose by this point, and sent him flying into Sun, sending them both off of the bridge.

"Blake! I'm in position!" Ruby said over the scroll. Just then, Weiss and Jack leapt down from above. Weiss stabbed the road in front of her, creating a thick sheet of ice. The Paladin slipped and fell onto the bridge below the one they were on, landing in front of Ruby. The other members of RWBY, along with JSPR, joined her as Roman was getting up.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby yelled, before firing a shot in front of her, launching herself back. Weiss spun around and slammed her rapier into the ground, creating a sheet of ice. Yang, who had jumped up while Weiss was preparing to freeze the road, slammed her fist down into the ice, creating a thick veil of fog, cutting off Roman's ability to see them through the fog.

Not to be outdone, Jack gave his own command.

"Double Team!" Jack switched Weeping Rose into crossbow form and launched an explosive bolt at the Paladin. Phil summoned multiple glyphs around the machine, which Raelin and Solaris used to propel themselves at the Paladin. They bounced from glyph to glyph, slashing and punching respectively. Back, arms, legs, face, torso, nothing was safe from their assault. Every time Roman tried to hit one girl, the other would land a strike somewhere else. After a minute, they flipped away from him, and disappeared back into the fog. Roman activated his guns and missile launchers, then cautiously began to search the fog. He slowly walked his Paladin forward, cautious for any movement. Seeing Yang, he fired his machine gun, but missed. He launched a more focused blast, and caught Yang and Blake from the force of the impact. As they flew away, Ruby launched herself at him, using Yang and Blake as cover to catch him off guard. She landed a direct hit on his cockpit, then jumped back and cocked a round into the chamber of her scythe.

"Checkmate!" Ruby called. Weiss and Blake ran forward, Blake front flipping and Weiss back flipping toward the machine. They launched a quick combo of slashes at the legs before Weiss jumped up and stabbed one of the guns on the Paladin, taking it out of commission. She then backed up and summoned a glyph around Blake, causing her to quickly speed backwards out of harms way. The robot just barely missed slamming it's foot down on her. Roman, growing frustrated, launched a volley of missiles at them. The two girls expertly back flipped and avoided each one. He then fired a couple of blast from the rifles on his arms. Weiss blocked the shots, however, the force from the impact knocked her backwards. Before she hit the ground, she launched a time dilation glyph at Blake, causing her to speed up to twice her normal speed. Roman launched more missiles at her, but she expertly cleaved through each one.

"Ladybug!" Ruby called, running by her. Ruby slashed the underside of the robot, then skidded to a halt behind it. She and Blake then went back and forth, attacking a single leg together. Leaping up, they completely separated one of the rifle arms.

"Petal Storm!" Jack called. Phil plunged his rapier into the ground in front of him, creating a trail of ice leading to the machine. Jack then switched Weeping Rose into it's big scythe form and slammed it onto the ground in front of the ice. Electricity arced from the blades across the ice, hitting the robot and causing it to stagger back. Phil then rushed up to it and began unleashing a vicious combo with Winter Storm in whip form, electricity coating the blades. Phil then jumps back, just in time for Jack to land a big strike across the torso, then follows up by pointing the end of the scythe at the Paladin and launching a swirl of petals at it. The petals don't cause much damage, but the machine still staggered back from the assault. Just then, Yang jumps onto the front of the machine and begins to repeatedly punch it, firing rounds from her Ember Celica with each strike. The Paladin continues to stagger from the strikes, alarms going off in the cockpit. Suddenly, the Paladin dashed forward, slamming Yang into a concrete pillar. As she fell, it punched her through the pillar, shattering it.

"Mom!" Solaris yelled, seeing Yang collapse onto the ground, the pillar crumbling around her. Suddenly, the flames of her semblance flared up bright and hot around her, scorching the ground around her and forcing everyone to step away from her due to the intense heat. She ran forward, bringing her fist back for a strike. Roman shot at her, forcing her to stop her charge, but she still threw a large fireball at him, further damaging his Paladin. The robot staggered back, it couldn't take much more. The others looked over to Yang.

"Yang!" Blake called.

"Don't worry!" Ruby replied to Blake. "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special" As she was saying this, Yang slowly got back up to her feet. She clenched her fists, ready to end this fight. Inside his cockpit, Roman grinned, thinking this would be easy. The Paladin tried to punch her again, but Yang caught the fist and stood her ground. Yang looked up at the machine with blazing red eyes. She reared back her fist and punched the arm, shattering it to bits. Team JSPR looked on in awe. They had never seen her this angry, never.

"Remind me not to ever get on her bad side" Jack whispered to his cousin. The others nodded in agreement.

"That's my mom" Solaris whispered with a slight grin. The Paladin staggered back from the hit, then reared back it's foot and kicked her, sending Yang flying right between Blake and Ruby.

"Bumblebee!" Ruby called over to Blake. Blake threw her kusarigama to Yang, who caught it and skidded to a stop. She then started running in an arc, keeping the ribbon taught, and firing the gauntlet of her free hand behind her, boosting her speed. As she neared the Paladin, she jumped up and dropkicked it, staggering it.

"We have to slow it down!" Ruby called to Weiss.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss responded.

"Ice Flower!" Ruby ordered. Ruby spun her scythe as Weiss used her semblance on it to enhance the shot. Ruby aimed at the robot and fired. The enhanced shot hit the machine, causing ice to form on it. Ruby fired round after round, Weiss enhancing each one. Ice kept forming on the Paladin, weighing it down. Yang came around for another hit, striking it in the cockpit. The Paladin goes flying back, falling apart as it rolls, with Roman rolling out of it. Roman stands up and inspects himself.

"Just got this thing cleaned!" he complains, dusting himself off. _What? Roman Torchwick? It can't be!_ Jack thought. He had to know. He couldn't just accept that they had been fighting a good friend and mentor to him.

"Mr. Torchwick?" Jack called. Team RWBY turned and looked at him in shock. This even caught Roman's attention.

"Hmm? Do I know you?" before they could talk further, Yang shot a bolt at Roman, only for Neo to drop down and block it with her parasol.

"Neo?" Jack said. He couldn't believe it.

"What's going on?" Phil asked, his voice thick with disbelief.

"Neo? Mr. Torchwick? What are you doing?" Solaris asked, more to herself than to them.

"Sorry. Do I know you kids or something?" Roman asked, slightly confused. Then he just shrugged. "Whatever. Ladies. Ice Queen"

"Hey!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Always a pleasure" Roman said, giving a mock salute. "Neo, if you would" Neo then bowed to them with one arm out and the other holding her parasol on her shoulder. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, before Yang sped forward.

"No!" Jack and Solaris both cried at the same time. Phil started to chase after her, but Raelin stopped him. Upon reaching them, Yang punched Neo, but she and Roman both shattered like glass, revealing them to be an illusion. Yang started looking for them with angry red eyes, before seeing them fly by in a Bullhead. Everyone watched as they left while catching up to Yang.

"So I guess he got a new henchman" said Yang.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans...fall apart?" Weiss punned. She then smiled while the rest of her team just looked at her. Ruby was holding back a snicker at the joke.

"No, just no" said Yang. Blake just turned around and walked away.

"What, but you do it!" Weiss said with her hands on her hips.

"There's a time and a place for jokes" Yang replied.

"Was this not it?" Weiss asked.

"No, it just wasn't very good" Yang replied while walking away.

"Well at least I'm trying" Weiss retorted while following her.

"Wait, where's Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asked, still standing there. Over at the noodle restaurant known as A Simple Wok, Sun and Neptune were eating a meal. Neptune is sitting facing Sun, who is hunched over his food. The dust shop owner is running the register, as well as doing various other tasks, such as preparing the food and dishes.

"They're probably fine, right?" Neptune asks Sun, feeling slightly guilty about abandoning them to that giant robot.

"Probably" Sun replied, not feeling too bad about it. After all, their kids mentioned a giant robot fight, so if they survive long enough to have kids that know them, then they survive the robot, right? That's his theory, and he's sticking to it. Meanwhile, back at the bridge, Jack, Solaris, and Phil were all glaring at Raelin.

"Why did you stop me?" Phil demanded. "I could have stopped her!"

"Phil, she only punched an illusion. They were already at the Bullhead. Besides, there's more going on here than you realize" Raelin responded. Phil was about to yell at her, but Jack put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"That robot had the White Fang's symbol on it. We all know Roman and Neo had a criminal past. Are they working with the White Fang? If so, why? You went with your parents, did you find out anything?" Jack asked. Raelin nodded, then explained.

"They are working with them. Neo stayed in the background, but I saw her. Roman actually gave a motivational speech. You wouldn't believe how well received he was. He said something about having common enemies, the government, military, and schools. He also mentioned something about his employer, who is responsible for the stolen Paladins. Other than that, all he mentioned was something about an operation in the southeast" When she was done explaining, they looked at her in shock. They did not want to believe the news she was telling them, yet they could not deny the evidence in front of them, that evidence being the remains of the Paladin they just fought. Everyone was quiet for a long moment, before Ruby broke the silence.

"Hey, are you guys okay? You look real sad. Is something wrong?" she asked, unaware of their connection with Roman and Neo. At this point, the rest of team RWBY had come back.

"Come to think of it, you guys seemed to know them. What's that all about?" Weiss demanded. Blake didn't say anything, but she did glare at Raelin, Raelin knew that glare all too well. It meant that she wanted answers, and she wanted them _now._ Team JSPR looked at each other, trying to judge how much information they should share.

"Umm, spoiler alert?" Solaris joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Noted" was Blake's reply. The rest of RWBY silently agreed with her. When they saw that their moms would not drop the subject, they sighed.

"Look, please don't be angry, okay?" Raelin began. Blake narrowed her eyes.

"No promises" was Blake's response.

"Can you at least withhold judgment until after we are done explaining?" Raelin tried. Team RWBY nodded yes at that.

"Roman and Neo, that was the ice cream lady with the parasol, they are good guys where we're from" Jack started. RWBY were really shocked at that.

"Wait, so they are not bad guys in your time? As in, no robberies, no joining the White Fang, none of that?" Yang asked.

"No, they still did all of that. They just don't do it anymore" Phil explained.

"But why did you act so surprised when you saw them?" Ruby asked.

"You also mentioned that we told you about this battle" Blake added, looking at Raelin.

"You told us that you fought a giant robot. You never mentioned who was in it" Solaris said.

"I still don't understand how Roman Torchwick could go from being a criminal to being a good guy" Weiss said. At this, JSPR grinned. "What?" Weiss asked.

"Actually, my dad was the reason. After he killed Roman's boss, he spent some time being a Beacon student and developing connections. Roman broke off from the White Fang and struck out on his own. One day he got sloppy, and got arrested"

"Like all criminals" Weiss said, satisfied that Roman does get arrested.

"Most criminals. Not all of them get caught" Jack amended, before continuing his explanation. "Anyway, my dad arranged for Roman to take certain classes in prison, and convinced Neo that he was actually from the future. Long story short, Neo believed him, and then he had her help him convince Roman to stop being a criminal. Dad helped him to become a private investigator, hence the classes. Dad then blackmailed the police into letting Roman help them with some cases, Roman proved to be pretty good at it, and Neo keeps him in line, in addition to helping him with his job. They even babysat us on a few occasions" Jack concluded. Team RWBY was very confused and had mixed reactions, to say the least.

"Your dad blackmailed the police?" Yang asked. Jack just nodded.

"They babysat you?" Blake asked.

"Yes. You never did completely let your guard down with him, and I think I'm starting to see why. But you were talked into it, and Neo never would let him go back to crime. We actually like them, and Jack really looks up to him" Raelin replied.

"He's still witty and sarcastic, even really rude at times, but he has softened over the years. Whatever uncle John told Neo has really stuck, because the moment Mr. Torchwick steps out of line she's on him faster than you can blink. I remember this one time she had to use her parasol on him. That was pretty funny, seeing him get beat by her" Solaris said, grinning at the memory. The rest of her team grinned at the memory, too.

"Okay, but who is his boss? That would really help if we knew" Weiss asked.

"Umm, that's the thing. We don't really remember her name. We know it's a woman, and she has to henchmen, a guy and a girl, and they are disguised as students visiting Beacon for the tournament. Other than that, that is it. Dad never said what school they're from, and while we were told their names at one point, we kinda forgot. Something about fire, maybe? I think that's one of their names. Anyway, we just have to wait for dad to show up and set things straight" Jack said, shrugging. Nodding, RWBY decided that was enough for now, but made them promise to tell them more about the future Roman and Neo later. As they were leaving, Jack stopped them.

"Uh, mom?" he sheepishly began.

"What?" Ruby replied, slightly confused.

"Can we stop by the store on the way back? There's something I really want to get for our room" he asked. Everybody looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Okay, but why are you asking me for permission?" Ruby asked, still confused.

"Um, I'm kinda broke. So I need to borrow some money. We spent most of our money getting what we did for our dorm, as well as some clothes" he said, staring at the ground out of embarrassment. At this, the rest of RWBY looked at their respective children as well, who all looked elsewhere out of embarrassment, especially Phil. He wasn't exactly used to this situation, having always had money for as long as he could remember. Weiss sighed.

"That's it. We're going shopping, then tomorrow we work out a way for you all to earn money. Deal?" At her offer, everyone quickly agreed.

"By the way, what was you wanting to get?" Yang asked. Jack cringed.

"A coffee maker. I am NOT a morning person" at his reply, both RWBY and the rest of his team cringed.

"We could tell" Ruby said.

"Can we please get that coffee maker today? We have to live with him" Phil asked, a slight note of begging in his voice. Solaris and Raelin quickly and vigorously nodded.

"You don't even have to buy any coffee. We'll just swipe some of Ozpin's or Oobleck's" Raelin added. Everyone glared at her. "Or not" she amended sheepishly.

"We're going, and you are NOT stealing coffee. We'll buy some" Blake said. With that, they started leaving.

"By the way, does anyone know where Sun and Neptune went?" Ruby asked

-Fallen Time Line-

Several Bullheads were flying over the Emerald forest, each bearing White Fang soldiers inside. They had recently gotten reports of humans spotted in the forest, and were searching for them in order to bring them in for questioning (torture). As they were flying over the forest, a group of Nevermores were spotted flying straight toward them.

"Open fire!" one of them, presumably the leader, commanded. The Bullheads turned so that the soldiers could get a better shot, then the soldiers all began to fire their weapons at the flying Grimm. A couple of Nevermores went down, but then something strange happened. The surviving Grimm drew back and flapped their wings toward the Bullheads, launching their feathers at them. While that in itself wasn't unusual, what was strange was that the feathers were glowing red. The bullheads were designed to withstand these types of attacks, but the soldiers felt fear of what that glow could mean. Regardless, they closed the doors to avoid being impaled by the feathers. As the first feathers hit, they exploded, like they had been infused with explosive dust. Each feather that hit exploded on impact, and soon all of the Bullheads were destroyed from the bombardment.

In the distance, an aged Winter Shnee saw the whole thing. Ever since the Fall of Vale, she had been wondering on her own, eventually gathering her own group of survivors and leading them, much like her sister. At some point, she and Weiss had crossed paths, and after an emotional reunion where they expressed joy at seeing the other alive, Weiss asked if they would join up with her group. Winter declined, stating that it would be much safer to have two smaller groups, versus having one big one, making them easier to spot. While Weiss was disappointed, she understood. She then told Winter about their plans to send someone back in time, to fix the mess they were in. Winter warned her that it would be incredibly dangerous, and possibly make things worse. Weiss, however, seemed determined to continue, believing it to be their only hope. Now, Winter looked on at the scene before her with horror and shock on her face.

"Oh my Oum. Weiss, what have you done?"

 **And, cut! That's a wrap people! Okay, I know this is late, and I'm sorry. I a very, very sorry. From now on, I won't give a set time, so that way it can't be late again. All I can say is don't expect the next one to be done in a week, or even two weeks. I have family coming over this week. Also, I plan on spending more time trying to make the remaining chapters better. Some of them feel rushed, and I believe that's because I've been feeling pressured to get these chapters out to you at a set time. So I plan on slowing down to try to avoid that. Unless the chapter is fairly short, expect a two week wait, minimum. It's bad form on my part to post a rushed chapter, and it's unfair to you as the reader to have to read such garbage, when I could clearly avoid that by taking more time to smooth it out instead of rushing. Before I go I have one question for you. There may be more Volume 3 spoilers in the future chapters. Since it's been a while since it concluded, should I continue to give spoiler alerts, or no? Please let me know what you think, and don't be shy about reviewing to let me know what you think about the story in general. This is my first fic, and I know I'm not the best author on this site. I never claimed to be. I'm trying to improve, and your reviews would really help! If you choose to just follow or favorite, or both, that's great, too. It lets me know people like this, and are interested for more. Anyway, that's it for now. Until next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **I am very sorry for the delay in getting this up here. Between a major case of writer's block, a sudden lack of drive to write due in part to writer's block, and getting sucked into Bloodborne and Undertale, as well as my work schedule getting crazy again, this has just been a really slow process in writing for this chapter. I really hope you all have been enjoying this story so far. I honestly had no idea how to start this one. I can't just rip off the show without adding some scenes in between episodes and scenes from the show. This was never meant to be just Volume 2 from a different point of view. It's supposed to be JSPR's story occurring during Volume 2. Unfortunately, I haven't had much room to advance the plot, so I hope to change that soon. I just have to figure out how to do that. Anyway, looking forward to Volume 4, which is coming out October 22. I'm super hyped for that! RWBY Chibi is kinda weird, but I like it. Also, with the way Volume 3 ended, does anyone think Jaune and Ruby will end up together? Should we call it RoseArc, or perhaps RubyKnight? Maybe KnightRose? I've always been a huge Arkos fan, but that's obviously not gonna happen now, no matter how much denial we throw at it. Trust me, I know. It took me months to get over the shock. Well, most of it. There might still be some lingering effects, hence this story. Anyway, I'm very sorry again for the late update, now on with the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY, as much as I would like to. I only own this story, and non canon characters.**

Chapter Seven:

After spending the rest of the evening shopping for the dorm, teams RWBY and JSPR finally got back to Beacon. Among the things purchased were a coffee maker, coffee (despite not stealing any, Raelin still knew the kind of coffee drank by both Ozpin and Oobleck, and made sure to get some), a TV, some movies, books, more clothes, posters (they were allowed to pick, fortunately), CDs, a micro fridge complete with drinks and sandwich items, and a maintenance and repair kit for their weapons, as well as various kinds of dust ranging from rounds to powder. Needless to say, they were exhausted. Also, when getting the dust, they were strictly warned by Weiss to be EXTREMELY careful, considering how they ended up in the past in the first place. It was kind of late when they got back, so they just put up the TV and decided to save the rest for tomorrow.

"It sure was nice of your mom to use her company card to make sure we got everything," Raelin said to Phil. Weiss had insisted that her son and team would have everything they wanted for their dorm.

"Yeah, I still can't believe she bought the TV and movies. We didn't even ask for one," Phil said. It was true, they did not ask for one, although they did want one. They didn't feel right asking her to buy such an expensive item for their dorm. Yang, however, mentioned that every dorm should have one, and Weiss actually agreed with her, for once. After that, there was no stopping her from getting one. It was a 60 inch flat screen, one of the newer ones. Needless to say, their jaws dropped. They tried stopping her, or talking her down to something smaller and cheaper, but she refused, saying that they were going to have the best.

"Is it me, or is your mom a lot more doting on you now than your adult mom?" Jack asked Phil.

"Our version of his mom had to raise him as a baby, and had time to get over the spoiling phase. This is still completely new to this version of her," Solaris said.

"That actually makes a lot of sense. Not bad," Jack said.

"I try. You know I'm a lot smarter than I let on," she replied. It's true. Solaris tends to act like a stereotypical blonde most times, pretending to not pay attention and letting others do the explaining. But to those who know her, she is actually hiding a keen mind that is always studying people, watching and listening when they think she isn't and learning what she can about them. In the case of meeting new people, she is the one her team turns to when they want to know if the stranger is trustworthy or not. While she does have some skill and experience with machines, having worked on her Heart Breakers with her father, her main specialty is with people. One time, she walked into a crowded room full of people and just watched everyone. Within five minutes, she knew how to manipulate most everyone there to her will. While she did not actually do it, she still had them figured out in that moment.

"Well guys, I'm beat. Between classes, understanding my mom, sneaking into a White Fang hideout, fighting a giant robot, and shopping all over Vale, I think I can safely say that I am exhausted. How about we get some rest, especially since we have classes tomorrow?" Raelin said. The others wholeheartedly agreed and soon they were all settling in for sleep.

"Good night everyone," Solaris called.

"Good night"

"Good night guys"

"Good night"

-Altered Time Line-

John was walking into an office building in downtown Atlas, escorted by Roman and Neo, as well as team RWBY and their respective husbands. They were currently on their way to see John's friend, Alex Hamilton, brother of Alan Hamilton, Yang's husband. While Alan chose to focus more on being a huntsman, Alex chose to focus on inventing, eventually creating his own business. He was a skilled fighter, and he would not hesitate to fight if need be, but he was currently doing more good as a CEO than a huntsman.

As John and company approached the front desk, the receptionist looked up.

"Ah, Mr. Flint. Always a pleasure. Are you here to see Mr. Hamilton?" she asked, not seeing Alan right away.

"Yes please. His brother is here as well, along with some close friends," John responded.

"Of course. My apologies for not noticing you sooner," she said, addressing her apology to Alan. He merely waved it off and they went up to Alex's office. As they were stepping into the elevator, Weiss turned to ask John a question.

"Why doesn't he just use holographic secretaries? It would be so much more efficient," Weiss asked.

"Simple. He wants to give people jobs" John responded. Weiss shook her head.

"Isn't he concerned that someone will try to steal his information? He is one of, if not the topmost leading inventors in Atlas, maybe even all of Remnant." At this, John and Alan both shared a chuckle, along with their respective wives. "What?" Weiss asked, confused.

"I've got this one, John. You see, my brother does all of the final interviews himself. Nobody gets hired without his go ahead," Alan said. Weiss was clearly still confused. Alan and John just smirked.

"Let me explain," Alan continued. "Holographic secretaries can be hacked"

"But it's been shown to be nearly impossible," Weiss interrupted.

"Nearly being the key term," John said. "He actually has one he keeps in his office for practice. He hacked that thing in five seconds." At this, everyone's jaws dropped, except Alan. He already knew.

"Five seconds? But that's impossible!" said Weiss.

"This wouldn't happen to be the same friend that's responsible for my career change, would it?" Roman interrupted. John smirked, before adding a 'yup' and a grin. Anymore conversation was cut off when the elevator doors opened, revealing Alex's office.

Alex Hamilton was slightly younger than John, with a clean shaven face, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. He is of average height and build, but he carries himself with confidence. He is wearing a white suit with gold trim and buttons. On his waist is a small cylinder that may or may not be a collapsible staff. His office is decorated with different inventions of his, as well as pictures taken over the years of him with his family and John with his family, as well as Yang and her family. While Yang was related by marriage, having married his brother Alan, John and Ruby were not related to him. Blake happened to notice this.

"Hey John, how come there are pictures of you, Ruby, and Jack, but none of the rest of us, or our kids?" Blake asked.

"Well, that's because none of you were around when we went on vacation," John said.

"It never crossed your mind to mention that you went on vacation with the most famous inventor of our time?" Weiss demanded.

"Nope. Not once. He is, however, the guy that designed the time capsule I used in my time. That's why I originally sought him out. Becoming friends was a bonus," John said with a grin.

"Yang, Ruby, how come you never mentioned that you knew Alex Hamilton?" Weiss asked.

"It just didn't seem that important, since you know so many rich people already," Ruby said.

"Yeah, we just kinda figured that you knew him already. He makes a lot of dust powered devices," Yang added. "Besides, I figured Ruby told you already," she added with a shrug. Weiss clearly wanted to argue more, but she couldn't find a single point to argue. After a moment, she gave up with a 'hmph'.

"If I may interrupt, I believe that you and Mr. Torchwick needed my help with something?" Alex said, referring to the reason they were there in the first place. Roman had been reviewing the security footage of the explosion with Neo when they noticed a slight rippling where the kids were, almost as though they were phasing out of existence.

"Yeah, Neo and I noticed something weird about the security footage from the warehouse the kids were in. I showed John, and he said that you were the guy who had the best shot at figuring out what it was," Roman explained. "He did explain the kid's situation to you, right?" he then asked.

"They mysteriously disappeared in a dust explosion. Now you are trying to find them. Right, I know. Let's see the footage," Alex responded. Roman handed him the footage, and together they watched it. For most of the parents, this was the first time that they had seen it, so it was understandably difficult for them to watch.

Alex replayed the video several times, occasionally humming in thought and checking some notes on his computer. After the umpteenth time watching it and referring to his notes, Alex finally looked up at the others and spoke.

"Well, the good news is I think I know what happened to them," he said.

"Great, what was it? They're still alive, right?" Yang asked.

"I was just getting to that. I imagine they are still alive, because I believe they somehow managed to accidentally time travel. However, the dust explosion that caused it is highly volatile, so there is no telling just what kind of damage was caused to the time stream," he explained.

"Any idea where-or when-they are?" Neptune asked.

"I can find out, I just need some time to study the portal they caused some more. I just need you to please be patient," he responded.

"So, no worries, right? You find them, then just bring them back?" Sun asked. Alex sadly shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. Ignoring the probable damage done from their method of travel, it is an insanely complicated process to try to successfully move someone through time. Your kids were unimaginably lucky they traveled through time, instead of dying in a lethal explosion. The odds of that portal occurring were a lot less than one percent. For me to create a stable portal and safely move four people through time with no damage is a very difficult process that I have yet to master. So far, the most I have been able to do is transfer data. This means that when I locate them, the most we can do right now is transfer their bank accounts and records to their current time, as well as give them whatever allowance you want to give," he explained.

"Wait. You said the most you've been able to do? I didn't know you were already researching time travel," Weiss said.

"When John found me and told me about how he came from an alternate future, he caught my attention. Of course, I didn't believe him at first. But he proved it with that time capsule the police had confiscated, as well as his lack of records. Imagine my surprise when he told me that I had designed his capsule! Needless to say, I was hooked. I've been researching time travel in my off time ever since," he said. After that explanation he started studying the footage some more. While the others stayed, Roman and Neo (sometimes referred to as 'Romeo' behind their backs by Solaris, Yang remembered with a pang of loss) left for a couple of hours to collect samples of the debris from the warehouse, as well as photograph the area to provide a different viewpoint of the scene. Weiss also made some calls and managed to get a complete list of the different types of dust that was stored there that day, as well as their quantities. After several hours, he finally paged his secretary to retrieve them from the waiting room.

On their way back, Neptune asked a question that had been bugging him since they arrived.

"Hey, earlier you guys mentioned that Alex does all of the final interviews himself. Why?" Alan looks over at John. John shrugged. Finally, Yang rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell him. Alex somehow is able to read peoples faces and body language to tell when people are lying or hiding something. Turns out Solaris has a knack for it, too, although she isn't quite on his level yet. It's a real pain when her birthday approaches and around the holidays," she explained.

"Wait, what do you mean he reads faces? Is he some kind of human lie detector?" Sun asked with more than a little confusion.

"Basically. I didn't believe him when I first found out. Within two minutes he practically read me my whole life story. Stunned doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. Well, that and I also wanted to pound his face in, but Alan stopped me. Apparently, Alex is even better at fighting than he is, but he just chooses to run his business instead," she added.

"Yeah, I saw Alex and John spar once, just to prove it. Their match actually ended in a draw," Ruby added, shocking the group, sans Alan, Yang, and John. Everyone knew how tough John was, so to fight him to a draw, even in sparring, was no easy feat. Finally, they arrived back at Alex's office.

What they saw was a keyboard and holo screen attached to a strange array of antennas and metal boxes they could only begin to guess the funtion of. Even Alan was left scratching his head at the function of most of the machinery in the room.

"Uh, Alex? When did you build this? More importantly, what IS this?" Alan asked.

"It's actually what we're going to use to help the kids," Alex said, rubbing his neck from the stress of tracking them down through time and getting all of this together.

"So, you found them AND you know how to help them?" Roman asked, doubt clearly heard in his voice. Alex just gave him a deadpan look while Neo smacked him with her parasol. "Ouch, I'm just asking," he said, rubbing where she smacked him. To anyone that knew how to read her, the message Neo sent him with her expression was clear. _It's not what you asked, it's how you said it._ Roman just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he mumbled, only to be hit again. The others just shook their heads, already used to Neo's methods of keeping him in line. Alex just sighed, ignoring the spectacle in front of him.

"Whenever you two are done, I'll answer," he said. Sure enough, Roman stopped muttering empty threats to Neo after a couple of seconds, although he still held his arm against his side, while holding his arm with his other hand, having been hit in both his arm and side nearest to her. He had also been hit in his leg, but there was nothing he could do about it. Neo, meanwhile, had a sweet smile on her face like nothing had happened. _That woman honestly creeps me out,_ Alex thought. Time for the explanation.

"After a long and stressful process, which you have no idea how hard it was to figure out, I was finally able to find your kids. You have no idea how hard that was! It turns out they are starting their second semester of their first year at Beacon academy at the same time you did," he said, looking at the members of team RWBY. Stunned faces and gasps of surprise and disbelief filled the room.

"You're saying that I'm gonna be making trouble for those runts, too? Aw, come on. It's just not my day. The last thing I want them to see is what I was like back then," Roman said, silently cursing the no smoking policy enforced throughout the whole building. He really needed a cigar right now, in light of this news. Neo, despite enjoying watching Roman suffer, was also disheartened at the news. She really hoped that they wouldn't see her back then, but they knew that she had never been far from Roman. They would know that she was a part of his criminal activities, and that somewhere behind the scenes she was smoothing the path for his plans.

"Hey, we're not happy either. Remember, that's the year I showed up. Who knows what will happen now?" John said, clearly worried about what this could mean for the time line. The other parents shared similar levels of worry, both for the safety of their children, and for the effect they could have. John had eventually told them of his future he had come from, and they certainly did not want that or worse.

"Look, I promise to continue working on a way to bring them back. I will. But for now, let's do what we can. I imagine they don't have much money?" Everyone nodded, even Weiss after some hesitation. She realized that his emergency cash wouldn't get much more than the basic necessities for the four of them, and it certainly wouldn't last much longer after that. "Okay, I can transfer their accounts to their current time. I just need your help to make sure the info is correct. I can also send them a message to explain what's going on on our end. Sound like a good start?" At this, everyone agreed.

"Can we do personal messages?" Ruby asked. Alex sadly shook his head.

"This technology is still in the early stages. I can only keep the portal open for a few seconds at the most. That's long enough for us to transfer the accounts and send one message only, either to one person or one group. I haven't gotten any further than that, and I had just fine tuned it to stay open for that long before I called you back. I'm sorry," Alex explained.

"Oh," was all she said, eyes down and sad. She felt John put his arm around her, and she leaned into his embrace. All around her, the others were preparing to help their children the best they can, and promising to do more when they can.

-Current Time Line-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Jack groaned and opened his eyes a crack. He could barely make out the blurry ceiling above him, and the cursed blaring of the alarm clock going off. _Why, for the love of all things good, did that stupid alarm have to be so loud?_ Jack thought. Groaning, he staggered over to shut off the alarm, which they kept on the middle window sill, so that whoever shuts it off has to get out of bed, reducing the chance of them falling back asleep. While he was doing that, Phil started a pot of coffee with their new coffee maker, deciding to use the Vacuo Supreme Special Dark blend, one of Oobleck's favorite blends. Raelin walked over to the micro fridge and began pulling out everyone's preferred creamers. Solaris, meanwhile, was sitting in bed, blearily rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Glancing over to her scroll, she noticed that she had a message. _That's weird, who could that be from? I don't recall giving anyone my number, other than RWBY and JNPR. Maybe it came from one of them?_ Reaching over to pick up her scroll, she saw that it was a group message to her and her team. But, more importantly, she noticed that it was from none other than her uncle Alex.

"Hey guys, check your scrolls real quick!" she practically shouted in her excitement. Puzzled as to what could have her so awake in the morning, before breakfast of all things, they obeyed.

"Huh, looks like it's from Alex," Jack said. Phil and Raelin looked at him, puzzled.

"You know Alex Hamilton?" Raelin asked.

"Yeah, he's my uncle! Jack and his parents would go on vacation with us," Solaris explained.

"Wait, so your uncle Alex is THE Alex Hamilton, the famous inventor?" Phil asked, not quite believing it.

"Of course he is. He's Alex, our last name is Hamilton, how did you not connect the dots sooner? You really Shneed to use that brain of yours a little more," Solaris replied, grinning at her pun. Everyone else just groaned.

"Great, it's not even breakfast and she's already cracking puns. But seriously, I wonder what this text says," Jack said. Everyone was equally curious and decided to read it together.

 _Team JSPR:_

 _This is Alex Hamilton, or uncle Alex in your case, Solaris. I am working on a means to bring you back to this time line, but your method of travel, in addition to the fact that the technology itself is highly advanced and complex, is hindering me. In the meantime, Mr. Torchwick and Ms. Politan are investigating what they can to learn more about your method of disappearance, and your mother, Phillip, is being fully cooperative with their investigation. In the meantime, all of your parents are extremely worried about you, and have agreed to help you where they can. So far, the most we can do is to insure that you have money to obtain whatever you may need. They have helped me to transfer your accounts to your time line. Also, you have received extra allowance from your parents, as well as a small donation from me for your troubles. You seem like good kids, since Solaris and Jack talk a lot about you. We are doing the best we can, so please hold tight until we can bring you home. Do not reply to this message, as it is only one way. Your parents love you very much, and even that Torchwick guy and his creepy lady friend seem to care about you a lot._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Alex_

"Wow, I guess this must be the guy that built your dad's time pod thingy, huh Jack?" Raelin asked. Jack nodded, rereading the message. _Creepy lady friend? Did Neo have to get onto Roman in front of him? She's not THAT creepy. Although, the way she smiles at his pain can be unnerving at times, but I know she cares about him. Okay, maybe she is creepy, but you eventually learn to look past that._ His thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when Solaris suddenly shouted.

"Holy Monty Oum! Everyone, check your bank balance!" everyone did as told, only to have their jaws hit the floor.

"That's a small donation?" Phil asked, not believing his eyes.

"I don't think we have to worry about finding work for a little while," Raelin said, shell shocked at the amount of money in her account.

"I'll have to remember to thank him when I get the chance," Jack said.

"You don't think we'll have to return what's left, do you?" Solaris asked with a grin. Everyone either shrugged or shook their heads at her. Finally putting their scrolls away, they finished getting coffee ready and got ready for breakfast, where they updated team RWBY and JNPR on their situation. They were equal parts confused, surprised, and happy to know that they were taken care of. The day passed fairly uneventfully, as far as an average day at Beacon can be.

A couple of weeks passed by uneventfully, and everyone seemed to be settling in okay. Team JSPR was able to afford everything they needed, Blake and Sun was talking some, and seemed to be getting along fine. Weiss still wasn't sure about Neptune, though. He was a notorious flirt, but she still had to admit that he was attractive. Neptune, on the other hand, found her to be very attractive, but he wasn't quite ready to commit to anything just yet. He wasn't totally convinced that Phil really was his son from the future, although he did look just like a Shnee version of himself. Yang still bugged JSPR from time to time about which of the visiting students was going to be her husband, but JSPR wisely decided to remain tight lipped on the subject, much to her disappointment. Ruby would ask Jack about his father, and seeing as how she couldn't meet him for a while, he would answer what he could. Jaune still tried to get a date with Weiss from time to time, but it was becoming less frequent. Knowing that he would marry Pyrrha, who clearly had feelings for him even now, JSPR would just shake their heads but otherwise remain silent. They have caused enough damage, after all.

Eventually, everyone found themselves in Professor Goodwitch's combat training class, watching Pyrrha defeat team CRDL by herself. She was actually faring quite well, and managed to anger Cardin to the point that he carelessly swatted his teammate Dove aside. This caused Jack and Solaris to snicker at him.

"You know, I think I remember him now. Isn't Cardin that guy that got arrested for drunkenly harassing a female faunus police officer?" Phil asked his team. This caught RWBY and JNR's attention.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, yeah. I remember that. Wasn't he trying to get her to sleep with him? Something about her being a faunus and her 'animal instincts?'" Solaris asked.

"People like him disgust me. I'm glad he got arrested," Raelin replied, shaking her head.

"Cardin gets arrested. Somehow I'm not surprised," Ren said.

"Aww. She should have broken his legs," Nora replied, crossing her arms and pouting slightly. This brought some slight chuckles from everybody as they turned back their attention to watch Pyrrha unleash a viscious aerial combo on Cardin before brutally slamming him into the ground. The match ended, and professor Goodwitch congratulated her for her performance.

"Hey, isn't the dance next week?" Solaris suddenly asked Jack.

"Yeah, why... oh. Oh no," Jack said, suddenly getting worried and slightly panicked.

"What's wrong, didn't pick a date yet?" Yang asked.

"This is the day my dad showed up. This is the class he showed up in. He appears right before the class starts, and kills the three who were responsible for his time line. He hasn't shown up," Jack said, letting his words sink in.

"Great, so I guess it's up to us to stop the Grimmpocalypse from happening," Solaris said, causing her team to roll their eyes at her. As she said that, Mercury was volunteering to fight Pyrrha. Solaris looked at her team with an expression that read 'bad news' on her face. They knew enough to know that if she doesn't trust someone, she's probably right. She was trained by her uncle Alex, after all.

Goodwitch was arguing to Mercury that it was unfair for Pyrrha to fight again, seeing as how she just fought. Pyrrha was telling her that she can fight again. Suddenly, Raelin stood up.

"I'll fight him. I haven't had a match yet today," Raelin said.

"You are volunteering to fight Mr. Black?" Goodwitch asked.

"Hang on, my match is with her! She already agreed to it!" Mercury said, pointing at Pyrrha, who was standing there looking a bit confused.

"Mr. Black, I did not consent to your request. While Ms. Nikos says that she is capable of fighting you, she has already finished a match against a team of four students. While she may be capable of fighting, she is most certainly not at full capacity, and thus handicapped. I would much prefer to have you fight someone who is fresh, and it is as Ms. Wukong said, she has not had a match today. If this is not satisfactory to you, then perhaps I can select a different combatant," Goodwitch replied, slightly glaring at him. He glared at her and Raelin, before grumbling and sitting back down.

"I suggest you think a little harder before volunteering next time, Mr. Black. Now then, are there any volunteers to fight Ms. Wukong?"

After a rather quick match against another student, the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the class, waking Blake up, who had fallen asleep during Raelin's fight. They were dismissed with a reminder about the dance being that weekend and their first mission the following day. As they were exiting to the courtyard, JSPR saw Sun asking Blake to the dance, only to be shot down. Raelin worriedly looked at her retreating form.

"I'm really worried about her. Ever since that fight with Roman, she hasn't been the same. The last time I saw her like this was when dad got real sick and she was having to take care of him, me, and work. She barely ate and hardly slept," Raelin said, worry clear in her voice. Phil shook his head.

"I remember that time. Mom tried to get her to take time off, but she refused, saying something about being no good if she didn't work. Mom really had to put her foot down to get her to take the time off she needed," Phil said.

"Hey, these are our moms, right? I'm sure they'll talk some sense into her eventually. Right now we have bigger issues, like how to get home, and why didn't my dad show up," Jack said. He tried to keep a smile on his face, but they could see the deep worry behind it. Out of everyone, his existence was most jeopardized by this. Still, there was nothing they could do about it, except to try to make sure that this time line doesn't end up like John's.

After doing some research on time travel and temporal theory, they realized that they were way out of their league. They decided the best they could do is to hang tight and hope that Alex comes through for them. On their way back to their dorm they passed by Blake, who looked upset about something. Passing her, they saw Jaune attempting to ask Weiss to the dance, using a guitar and singing his proposal. He had the door shut in his face. Twice.

"And that is why they call her the Ice Queen," Solaris said, right about the time Yang was explaining the nickname to Weiss. Shrugging, they went to their dorm to relax a while before turning in for bed.

-Fallen Time Line-

Weiss was in her current hideout, an abandoned dust mine about several dozen miles south of Atlas. Suddenly, a messenger arrives with a note from Winter. Ever since the Fall, it has been unsafe to use their scrolls, since the White Fang controlled the CCT, and can track them using their scrolls. So they have to make due and use messengers. Taking the note, she read it.

 _Weiss, we need to talk. Something is happening, and I think it's related to your time travel experiment. Meet me when you can._

 _Winter_

Taking a piece of paper, she wrote a reply stating that she would try to meet up tomorrow. Handing it to her messenger, she then turned in for the night, knowing that it would be a long day, possibly longer than the usual long days that have become normal for the once heiress. She had been receiving reports of Grimm possibly learning to harness dust, but the question is, how? They lack aura, so it should be impossible. How could this be related to John going back in time? He failed, right? They are still stuck here, trying to survive in the wilderness and evade the White Fang. John is gone now, like so many others. He failed his mission, perhaps he never even made it. There is just no telling, except that nothing has changed. Left with more questions than answers, Weiss drifted off to sleep.

 **Yes everyone, I'm still alive. This has been a painfully slow process, but it's finally done after nearly two months. Between writers block and loss of inspiration, it's hard to write sometimes. Anyone on this site that writes stories can attest to that. I promise this story will continue, but I can't promise regular updates. For that, I am very sorry. Thank you to anyone who is still reading this, I really appreciate you still sticking with me. After this is posted, I will edit the ending of chapter two. It's a bit confusing and it feels kinda flat. Also, I realize that a few chapters ago I mentioned that they had lunch after Goodwitch's class. I failed to realize at the time that in the show they have lunch after Oobleck's class. My mistake. Would you like me to edit that, or would you prefer to leave it? I'll let you decide. Oh, and stay Determined. Yeah, I think I mentioned I've been playing Undertale. Great game, I highly recommend it. One of my favorites, now.**


	8. Chapter 8

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Hello again everyone. I'm really hoping that you all are enjoying this story so far. I am really sorry for the late update. I could blame my crazy work schedule, which has only recently settled down. I could blame writer's block, which is a big part of it, and is still an ongoing issue, though not as bad, for now. But the truth is, I've been pretty discouraged over the lack of support this story has been getting. I get that I'm a new author, and it really shouldn't get to me. I guess I was just expecting more. Factor in the fact that I'm the only RWBY fan in my family, and they haven't really been showing a lot of support either, I just really haven't felt that I had anyone to turn to for support. I never expected this to get super popular, or anything, but I was hoping for a little more feedback in the reviews section, instead of being straight up ignored most of the time. For those who did review, mainly Railsaraki3, thank you. Follows and favorites are great, and I do appreciate them. It's just that I don't know what you like, or don't like, or your thoughts, or anything, if you don't review. I know I sound like I'm begging for reviews, and maybe I am. I don't know. It's just been discouraging for me to feel like I don't have much in the way of support, so it's been hard to motivate myself to write. Factor in writer's block, and it's been a rough combo. I'm mainly writing now because I promised that I would finish this, and for whatever reason I somehow picked up a few followers and favorites along the way. I know how it feels to follow an interesting story, only for it to sit for months on end, until you're sure it's been abandoned. I really don't want to be that guy, but I feel like if I'm not careful, that's exactly what I'll become. Sorry for the long note. So on with the show!**

 **I think you all know by now how much of this I own, and what I don't. Hope you don't mind if I skip the disclaimer this time.**

Chapter Eight:

-Fallen Time Line-

Weiss was up bright and early, unable to sleep due to all of the questions swarming around in her mind. Groaning in frustration, she decided to just go ahead and get up, and get an early start on the day. Remembering her sister's letter from last night, she decided to get the necessary chores done that a leader is expected to do in the morning, then leave as soon as possible to try to meet Winter. After seeing to the safety and welfare of all of the survivors in her care, as well as a quick bite of breakfast herself, Weiss grabbed enough supplies to last her for the day and headed out of camp with a couple of guards. Fortunately, she knew where Winter's camp was, since the two sisters try to stay in contact, and they let each other know where their camps are in the case that one of them should need to join camps with the other survivors. Of course, they burn any and all sensitive documents, including the location of other survivors, but they make sure to memorize the information first.

After walking for a couple of hours she came across the entrance to the city that used to house the people that originally mined the caves that her camp is staying in. Outside, waiting for her, is none other than Winter herself. The two sisters immediately embrace, (they had eventually dropped the stiff and haughty act over the years, as time and their situation eroded the need for it) then Winter leads Weiss and her guards to her office, where the guards were left outside. After asking after each others well being, as well as the well being of their respective camps, they got down to business.

"Weiss," Winter began, Weiss giving her full undivided attention, "I'm sure you have received reports by now of Grimm using strange elemental abilities, similar to dust," she stated, rather than asked.

"Well, yes. But I find it hard to believe, since Grimm lack any kind of aura. Also, why now, when they have never been known to do so before?"

"The reports are true. I have personally witnessed it myself," Winter stated. Weiss could only stare at her in shock.

"B-but, how? How could Grimm suddenly start using dust? They have no aura! It shouldn't be possible!" Weiss exclaimed. She could not simply wrap her mind around the fact that mankind's greatest weapon against the Grimm could suddenly be wielded by the very monsters it was used against for centuries, if not millenia.

"I have a theory, but I don't think you're going to like it. It has to do with your little time travel experiment," Winter said.

"How? It failed, didn't it?" That was years ago, shouldn't we have seen changes before now if that were the case?" Weiss asked. Winter shook her head.

"Weiss, think. Let's pretend for a moment that your grandson was successful in his mission. Just pretend, alright? Now, mind you, this is just a theory, but what if his going back in time created a separate time line? He was not part of our history back then, so by going back it's entirely possible that his very presence could have created an entirely separate time line in order to accommodate his being there. Now I still don't understand how this relates to the recent changes in the Grimm, but I imagine that something must have happened in his time line, or perhaps another, to cause it," Winter explained. Weiss just shook her head.

"Winter, I'm not sure I understand. I mean, your theory is possible. We sent John back to make all of this never happened. If what you are saying is true, then we failed. But if he was successful, then whatever reality he is in is living much happier lives. But what could have happened to make the Grimm suddenly have dust like abilities?" Winter just gave a patient sigh.

"I don't know, Weiss. Perhaps the time stream got damaged somehow? Or perhaps it has nothing at all to do with my theory. Who knows?" she mused, smiling slightly at her younger sister. The topic then changed to more trivial matters, before finally the two Shnees took their leave of each other to look after their respective camps, both Weiss and Winter musing over what could possibly be behind the recent changes in the Grimm.

-Current Time Line-

Jack was having difficulty sleeping. He would sleep for a few minutes at a time, before waking up for lengthy periods of time, thinking. His father had been very clear about when he arrived into the past, and now that time has passed without him ever showing. Theories and possibilities kept going through his head, as he tried to understand what this meant for him and his team, as well as why his father never arrived and what it could possibly mean. Sighing, he decided to try again to sleep, with little result.

When the alarm went off, Jack was even more tired and groggy than usual. Groaning, he began to get ready for the day, not telling the others that he had laid awake for most of the night. He struggled to stay awake throughout the day, and by lunchtime he was struggling to keep his eyes open. After he got his food together, his teammates began to question him.

"Jack, you've been acting way more tired than usual. What's going on?" Solaris asked.

"Yeah, Jack, you can always tell us whenever something is bothering you," Phil added.

"We're here for you anytime. All you have to do is speak up," Raelin said, with a look of worry on her face. Jack sighed as he sat down, and for a moment he didn't say anything as he picked at his food. Finally, just as the others felt that they couldn't stand his silence anymore, he took a sip of his coffee and spoke.

"Look, the thing is, I actually couldn't sleep for most of the night. I just kept laying there, thinking. I can't seem to make heads or tails of our situation. Dad was clear about when he arrived, except now he doesn't show. And honestly, I'm worried," At this he paused to take another sip of coffee and rub the back of his neck while staring at the table. "You guys still have both of your parents here, so you'll still be born. But what about me? Sure, my mom is here, but without my dad..." The others quickly caught on to his train of thought. For a few minutes, all was silent at their table, as no one knew what to say. Finally Jack finished his meal and stood up. "I'm going to the library. I want to take another shot at trying to figure out this mess we're in, or at the least try and learn something about what might happen to me," The others watched him leave with concern written all over their faces.

SPR weren't the only ones watching Jack leave. As he left, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang watched him go as well. They weren't sitting close enough to hear what happened, but they could see the looks on their faces. Ruby sighed as Jack walked through the cafeteria doors.

"You think he's taking his dad not showing pretty hard?" Ruby asked.

"Well, he kinda can't be born without him," Yang said, causing Ruby to blush.

"Not to mention the fact that it was his father who prevented the destruction of Beacon. He's most likely very worried about what this means for the future," Weiss theorized. Ruby sighed again.

"First Blake, now Jack. I doubt he's going to the dance like this," Ruby said, her voice barely above a mumble.

"Not to worry. I'll make sure he goes while I talk some sense into Blake," Yang said, right about the time SPR was walking by.

"No, it's alright, I'll talk to Jack. You just focus on talking to my mom," Raelin said, surprising them.

"You sure?" Yang asked, clearly confused. Raelin nodded.

"Quite sure. He's my partner, as well as my leader. But above all else, he's my closest friend. He'll listen to me, since I understand him," she replied, conviction clear in her voice. As she left, the others watched her. Solaris turned to Phil, a grin starting to form on her face.

"You know, I think she might have more feelings for him than she lets on," she said. Phil looked confused for a moment, before realization hit him.

"Wait, you don't think she likes him, do you? Not like as in 'I like you', but like as in 'I like _like_ you'," Phil asked. Solaris grinned in response, before heading to their dorm. Phil, meanwhile, shook his head at the news. He never figured that Raelin would ever fall in love with Jack. Sure, they were childhood friends, but the thought of them dating never crossed his mind. Still, he wasn't too surprised. Looking back over his memories, he could see the telltale signs that he had missed over the years. If he was correct, which he would have to check with Solaris later to confirm his suspicions, Raelin had been slowly developing romantic feelings for Jack for at least the past couple of years now. Phil shook his head again as he left for the training hall. _Women,_ he thought to himself, a smirk forming on his lips.

As Raelin entered the library, she noticed her mother using one of the library's computers to do some research. _Could it be that she has been obsessing over finding Mr. Torchwick this whole time? Come to think of it, mom never really trusted him, even in our time line. Could his involvement with the White Fang be why?_ As she pondered these thoughts, she noticed a small red dot suddenly appear. As she watched, the dot began to move around on the screen and on Blake's arm. After a moment, it disappeared. Blake looked over her shoulder, only to find no one suspicious. The moment she turned around to start working, it reappeared. It moved around again, then disappeared. Blake checked over her shoulder again, only to find no one, again. The third time it appeared, Blake slammed both of her fists on the table, growling in frustration. She stood up and followed the dot to it's source, which was Yang. Yang grabbed a confused Blake and left to talk privately. Raelin couldn't help but to give a silent chuckle. _Mom HATES laser pointers. Clever, Yang. Very clever. And, I admit, that was also very entertaining to watch._

Refocusing on the task at hand, Raelin scanned the room to find Jack. After a moment of searching, she found him sitting at a computer in the opposite corner from where Blake was. Taking a deep breath, Raelin walked over to him. Jack was absorbed in his research, which she noticed was theories on temporal mechanics and the possible effects of time manipulation. Unfortunately, they were all speculation, yet Jack seemed determined to find some kind of useful information from them. Raelin tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Jack turned around to see who tapped him, and she couldn't help but to notice the dark circles under his eyes. She barely refrained from letting out a soft gasp of surprise at how tired he looked. It wasn't just lack of sleep, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted as well. She had never seen him like this before, and she prayed she never had to see him like this again. Shaking her head, she once again forced herself to get back on track.

"Jack, we need to talk. Do you have a moment?" she asked. Jack just shook his head.

"I'm really busy. I need to figure out what's going to happen to me, to us, and why my dad never showed up," he replied.

"Jack, you're still here. I think it's safe to assume that you're not going to disappear anytime soon,"

"But we don't know that! It could be a gradual effect, or maybe-"

"No. You are not going to do this to yourself. You may be the team leader, but you are also my friend. I am NOT going to let you do this to yourself. You need a break, and you are going to take one, like it or not," Raelin said, cutting him off. The glare she gave him left no room for debate. She and Jack locked eyes for what felt like hours, until Jack eventually caved in.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'm not really getting anywhere with this anyways," Satisfied that she had won, she led him out of the library, and back to the dorm. As the day wore on, Raelin noticed that Jack was still in a somber mood. As she thought of a way to get him to open up, she suddenly had an idea. Raelin messaged her teammates that she and Jack would be heading into Vale for the evening, then grabbed Jack as he was on his way to the cafeteria for dinner. Jack looked to her, confused as to what she could want.

"Hey, you ok?" she asked

"Yeah," he lied. She gave him a look that told him she didn't buy it. "Okay, no, not really. She was quiet for a moment, before she decided to go ahead with her idea.

"You know, I could use a good burger and fries. Wanna go to Grillby's? I noticed it's still here last time we were in Vale," she suggested. Jack seemed to think about it for a moment, then shrugged.

"Sure," he said. "I am kinda hungry, and the prices are bound to be cheaper," he said. They left Beacon via airship, and went into the city. After landing, they wandered around in the city for a few minutes, before finally finding the place they were looking for. It was a small establishment that was both a fully stocked bar as well as a restaurant. While they were still too young to drink, they really enjoyed the food, and would often come here to eat after school or on the weekend. Entering inside, they were immediately greeted by music from the jukebox, as well as a few customers sitting quietly, either nursing their drink or eating their food. There was a mix of both human and faunus, as Grillby's was one of the few establishments that did not discriminate, and the owner has personally thrown out more than a few customers for their discriminatory attitudes. The building had an antiquated look, even in the past, with wood floors and an antique jukebox in the corner. The booths and bar stools were not in the best of conditions, but still pretty comfy.

Grillby himself stood behind the counter, polishing a glass. He was a tall, somewhat intimidating figure, as he tended to double as bouncer for the place. He wore a white long sleeved dress shirt with the sleeves rolled just past his wrists, a black vest, a black bow tie, and black slacks. On his face was a pair of small round glasses, and he had reddish orange hair, with a light dusting of freckles on his face. It was a common opinion by many of his customers, JSPR included, that his hair kinda made his head look like it was on fire, especially since he tended to style it so that it stood up. Perhaps the fiery look was intentional, but nobody ever asked.

Together, Jack and Raelin approached the bar, and by default, Grillby. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was one of the kindest souls they ever met, always ready to listen to them, or anybody, really. He rarely spoke, but when he did, everyone listened. He was not one to waste words, and made his words count, often giving sound advice. Ever since discovering Grillby's, JSPR often went to him while growing up when they had a problem that they weren't comfortable going to their parents about, and he would always listen, as well as offer guidance and advice when needed. While this is the past, and thus he wouldn't know about them yet, it was still good to see him all the same.

Together, they approached the counter and each ordered a burger and a side of fries, as well as a non alcoholic drink, then sat down at an empty booth. The food shortly arrived, and for a few minutes, they were both quiet as they enjoyed their meal. Finally, Raelin spoke.

"Jack, please talk to me. Tell me what's really bothering you. I know your dad didn't show, but I feel like there's more to it than that," she pleaded. For a moment, Jack didn't respond, and took longer than usual to chew his food, then took a slow sip of his drink. When he couldn't stall any longer, he replied.

"Well, yeah, it worries me that dad didn't show. But I've been really worried about what it could mean. Without him, I can't be born, right? So a big part of me is freaking out because I keep thinking I'll fade from existence at any moment, except I never do. So then I get worried because I'm still here, except theoretically, I shouldn't be. What could this even possibly mean? I shouldn't exist. Then, there's the big Fall that dad was supposed to stop. Without him, it's going to happen, unless we figure out who's responsible, and stop them. But where do we even start? So, yeah, I've had a lot on my mind," he said, letting out a huge sigh at the end. Raelin was quiet for a moment. Her closest friend was dealing with a huge crisis that, frankly, no one that she knew was even close to prepared to deal with, let alone her. Still, she had to try. So she thought for a moment, before she remembered something and decided to use that and wing the rest.

"Hey, remember that one theory we found? The one about the possibility of multiple time lines existing beside each other?" she asked. Jack nodded in response, curious as to where she was going with this. "What if the reason you still exist is because we are in one of those time lines? Maybe you're still here because you were still born in our time line, and it still exists. Think about it. Your dad still exists. This means that he still married your mom, and had you. But his past shouldn't even exist anymore, which means he shouldn't exist. So what if his old time line also still exists, and he just traveled to a new one by accident? Then you and the rest of us were born, then we accidentally traveled to this time line?" By this point she was growing more confident in her theory, and from the look of it, so was Jack.

"That would explain a lot, actually. Why does my dad still exist, when he should have erased himself from existence? And if this is just a different time line, then that would explain why dad didn't show, as well as why I still exist. We still have to be careful, as there are still a lot of similarities between this world and ours, but now I think we're beginning to get a grasp of our situation. But doesn't this mean that it's up to us to stop the Fall? Is the Fall still a possibility here?" Raelin shrugged and shook her head.

"I honestly don't know. But what we DO know is that it was caused by a woman whose name had something to do with fire, and she had two henchmen. We also know that they attended Beacon during the Vytal festival under the guise of visiting students from a nearby kingdom. Perhaps we should start thinking of anyone we know who could fit this description, and start from there," she suggested. The two of them thought for a moment, before Jack recalled something.

"Now that I think of it, last week in Goodwitch's class, Mercury seemed real intent on fighting Pyrrha, even though she just fought CRDL. To make it even more odd, Solaris instantly didn't trust him, which she later said he was giving off some major bad vibes, like he was up to something. He was really upset when you interfered with whatever his plan was," he said. Raelin nodded.

"I remember. I know one of his teammates is Emerald Sustrai. She keeps acting all friendly towards your mom, although Solaris says that it's all just an act, and she secretly hates her, as well as the rest of team RWBY. If that's the case, and Solaris hasn't been wrong yet, then I wonder what she could really be up to?"

"I don't know, maybe she's trying to gather information? Question is, what and why?"

"Hard to say. By the way, what were the names of the rest of their teammates?" Raelin asked, suddenly feeling like she was on to something.

"Well, I haven't ever seen their other teammate, and they never said. So I honestly don't know. But their leader is Cinder Fall... wait, you don't think that's her, do you?" Jack asked, suddenly catching on to her train of thought.

"It has to be. Everything matches up. They're two women and a man, the leader being Cinder. Cinder definitely is a word associated with fire. They're students visiting from Haven, and they've been giving off bad vibes that's had Solaris on edge ever since we met them," Raelin deduced, smiling as she did so. _This feels just like the times when Mr. Torchwick and Neo would let us help on their cases, testing us to see if we could figure out who the bad guy was with the clues we had. Now I'm super grateful for the practice they gave us._ Jack thought it over, before realizing that they were the only ones who could possibly fit the description.

"I guess you're right. Mercury probably wanted to fight Pyrrha to see what the secret to her success in battle was. If he had been allowed to fight her, she probably would've used her polarity on him. While subtle, he could still pick up on it if he stayed aware of everything, which he no doubt would have if he was only fighting to study her. They then could have used her polarity against her somehow. Question is, what now?" Jack asked. He was already looking and feeling a lot better, now that the question of his continued existence had been resolved. He was also glad that they had a definite goal in mind, which was stopping Cinder. Raelin allowed herself a smile. _Mission accomplished._

"According to the history your dad was told when he was growing up, they don't actually strike until the singles rounds of the Vytal tournament. Since they're here posing as students, they'll no doubt be participating in the tournament. Now, if I was the bad guys, I would definitely want to find a way to rig the tournament in my favor. The best time to do that would be tomorrow, while everyone is at the dance. That would be the perfect time to sneak out," she said.

"Yeah, that would make sense. They have plenty of time between now and then to study everyone. Plus, in order to cause the Fall, they'll need to bring a lot of Grimm into the city, which means mass panic, confusion, etc. I can't think of a better start than to destroy everyone's faith in the schools training huntsmen and huntresses. That means they'll definitely want to rig the fights. But how will we know when they're in action?" he asked.

"Doesn't the ballroom have a big window with a good view? We'll just show up early and keep an eye out through there,"

"Okay, but that still doesn't resolve the issue of dance partners. We have until tomorrow to find one, and we're planning on ditching them! Plus, it's super weird to show up to a dance without one," he said. Raelin just smirked at him, although inside, she was super nervous. _Deep breath, it's for a good cause._

"Well, we could just go together," she suggested. Jack looked at her, speechless. He had always found her attractive, and lately he had started feeling kind of funny when she was around. He suspected he was developing feelings for her, but he refused to admit it for the sake of not ruining their friendship, so he would always force them back down. Now here she was, asking him to a dance!?

"Um, are you sure? I mean, people would think we were 'together, together' as Nora would say. Are you okay with that?" he asked. He didn't know if he was hoping for a yes or a no at this point. He knew he liked her, maybe even love. But he really didn't want to say or do anything to ruin their friendship, so he was afraid to act on these new feelings for her. Did she even feel the same?

"Well..." at this she turned her head away, not wanting to meet his eyes. Did he just imagine her blushing? It must be the dim lighting in this place, it never was very bright. "It's only for tonight. Besides, we both know what the plan is, so that's taken care of. This way, we don't have to go alone. Besides, I doubt they'll leave until the party is well underway, so we can have some fun. What do you say?" She really hoped he said yes. She had known for a while now that she loved him. She never could tell if he held any feelings for her, though, outside of best friends. So she never asked or acted on these feelings for the sake of preserving their friendship. She could always ask Solaris, but that just felt wrong to ask her to read her own cousin. Besides, she was hoping this dance would give her the chance to find out if he reciprocated any of her feelings for him. She just hoped that, whatever the outcome, it wouldn't hurt their friendship in any way.

"Well, I suppose so. This is the most logical choice, and who knows? It could be fun," he replied, giving a grin as he said that last part. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she noticed that his grin was directed at her. _What could that possibly mean? If I ask, he'll just say 'nothing', but that's definitely not nothing. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this._ She decided to both test the waters, and get a little payback for that comment at the same time.

"Well, since it's officially a date, we need to go shopping for something to wear. Let's finish up here and pay for our meal so we can leave," she said, giving a smirk of her own. Jack nearly choked on his drink at the mention of the word 'date'. He tried to splutter protests, but nothing came out of his mouth, leaving him looking at her open mouthed. He wasn't sure if she was being serious, until he saw her grin. Just as he started to relax, he saw a look in her eyes that seemed almost pleading. The moment he saw it, though, it vanished. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he began to suspect that maybe there was more to her date comment than what met the eye. Raelin, meanwhile, noticed how flustered he got, before relaxing when he noticed her grin. As she began to lose hope for a closer relationship with him, he seemed to get a puzzled expression on his face, and it stayed there for the rest of the night. For a while, she wasn't sure what to make of it, until they were almost back to the dorm. _Could it be that maybe he saw right through me? If so, why does he seem so puzzled? Maybe he's trying to think of a way to let me down while keeping our friendship in tact? Ugh, I'm jumping to conclusions again. I'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out._

Once they got back to their dorm, they told Phil and Solaris about their deductions and their plan for the dance. Solaris, of course, couldn't resist teasing them about going together, but otherwise agreed that it was a good idea. Phil, meanwhile, was also grinning at the teasing she was giving them, until she said that she'll take him as her 'date'. That left him speechless. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't about to let him back out. The next day the two of them went shopping for something to wear, then came back to prepare for the dance that evening.

The evening of the dance came, and found Yang standing at a podium at the entrance greeting everyone that arrived. She was wearing a simple white dress with white heels. Suddenly, she saw Ruby stumbling in.

"Oh, you look beautiful!" Yang exclaimed. Ruby, meanwhile, took another few staggering steps into the building.

"Ugh," she said, before standing shakily and looking at Yang. "Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" she asked miserably. Just then, she nearly lost her balance just standing there, forcing her to stumble forward, causing Yang to laugh at her.

While Yang was laughing, Jack entered arm in arm with Raelin. Jack was wearing a red dress shirt with a black dress coat that bore gold buttons, with a rose pinned to the lapel. He also wore black slacks, military style service dress shoes, and a black tie with a rose embroidered onto it. Raelin was wearing a black dress with dark purple highlights, purple flats, and a corsage of roses and belladonna flowers. As they entered, Jack saw Ruby struggling to stand, and approached her with a smirk on his face.

"Hey mom. I figured you might want these," he said, catching her attention. Ruby turned to see him holding up a nice pair of grey flat heeled shoes.

"Thanks, you're a life saver. Or at least, an ankle saver," she said, somewhat awkwardly. She gave a grateful smile as she accepted the shoes.

"No problem. You never did learn to walk in heels. Thought I might save you some grief," he replied. Yang looked over at him and Raelin and whistled.

"Look at you two. You look absolutely adorable!" she said, causing them to blush. As she was about to comment on their blushing, she spied the corsage on Raelin's wrist. She grinned wickedly.

"So you bought her flowers, huh? Does that mean you two are dating~?" she asked. This caused them to blush even more furiously, as well as to start protesting, unable to meet her eyes. Yang chuckled to herself. _This is gonna be fun._

Outside the ballroom, Sun was walking by himself towards the door, wearing an outfit similar to his usual attire, with the exception of a black shirt that had the collar up and was actually buttoned, and a white tie, tied loosely, and a necklace.

"Stupid dumb neck trap," he growled, adjusting his borrowed tie for the umpteenth time. He was mentally cursing Neptune for talking him into borrowing one of his ties to wear to the dance. What was the point in these neck traps, anyway? They're uncomfortable, and it felt like he was slowly being choked to death, even though it was hanging pretty loosely. Just as he was thinking these thoughts, he heard the most beautiful voice behind him.

"I knew you'd look better in a tie," He turned to look behind him, and sure enough, there stood Blake Belladonna in all her beautiful glory. She was wearing a purple dress with a thigh length slit over a gray see through shirt. There was a black band around her waist, and a black choker on her neck. In place of her usual black bow, she opted to wear a blue one. _You know, maybe this tie isn't so uncomfortable after all,_ he thought to himself. She walked up and grabbed his arm to so he could escort her to the dance.

"So... does this mean we're going together?" he asked.

"Technically," she replied. _Huh? What does she mean by that?_ "Though my first dance is spoken for," she continued. _Okay, now I'm really confused,_ he thought. A little ways behind them, Phil and Solaris saw the whole thing.

"It looks like Yang was successful in talking Blake into coming," Phil said. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt with a red dress coat and a red tie with a white embroidered snow flake. He was also wearing red slacks with blue dress shoes.

"Of course she was. This is my mom we're talking about. You know she always gets her way. Where do you think I get it from?" Solaris joked. She was wearing a yellow qipao **(Oriental type of dress. Think of Leifang from the Dead or Alive games)** with red and orange chinese dragon designs on it. She was also wearing yellow heels, since she didn't plan on leaving to chase Cinder or her henchmen. The plan was for her and Phil to stay at the dance and call Jack or Raelin should they see anything suspicious or noteworthy. They figured Cinder probably had a similar plan for her team.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Phil said with a shrug.

"I know I'm right. Now let's go dance, pretty boy," Solaris said with a smirk, grabbing his arm as they headed for the door. Once they entered, they heard a waltz being played, and saw Yang and Blake among the pairs on the dance floor. _Huh, good thing we know they're just friends. I'll bet anything that WAY too many people are reading too much into that scene. They like each other, but definitely not in that way,_ Phil thought, shaking his head.

"I wonder who talked who into dancing a waltz," Phil asked, watching them.

"Don't know, but I found Jack and Raelin. They're actually pretty good," Solaris replied, pointing out their leader and teammate.

"Huh, who knew?" was his witty comment. As they bowed, Sun cut in and continued the dance with Blake. Yang left to go stand by Ruby and Weiss, both of whom did not have dance partners. "Wanna go join them?" Phil asked.

"Nah, I feel like dancing. You're joining me, since you're my date," Solaris replied, enjoying the flustered look on his face at her words. Secretly, however, she was trying to work up the nerve to confess her true feelings to him.

"Well, uh, let's not forget that we're also here on a, um, a mission. Heh heh," Phil managed to say, rubbing the back of his neck. A moment later, the doors opened and Mercury and Emerald walked in. "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Or at least a couple of his daughter's flunkies," he muttered to himself, but Solaris heard him. Her good mood instantly soured upon seeing them, but she decided not to let them ruin her mood.

"Come on, they're starting the next song. We'll be less conspicuous if we keep an eye on them while dancing," she said while grabbing his arm and leading him to the dance floor. She also made a mental note that Cinder was not with them. The two of them danced their way over to Jack and Raelin.

"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum just showed up, but the Queen of Hearts isn't with them," Solaris said, just loud enough for Jack and Raelin to hear her once they were close enough. They nodded, and continued dancing, all four of them keeping an eye out. This was going to be an interesting night.

-Altered Time Line-

Roman and Neo were sitting at her favorite ice cream shop, with Roman sipping on a coffee from next door and Neo eating, what else, but a big bowl of Neopolitan ice cream. The first time he found out she loved that particular flavor, it only took one wise crack to learn that nobody says anything about her love for Neopolitan ice cream, and escapes unharmed. As they were sitting down and enjoying themselves, Roman received a text on his scroll from Red. Curious, he opened it to look. _Check the news_ , it read.

"Hmm, this is odd," he remarked. Curious, Neo looked up and gave him a questioning look. "Red just sent me a text to check the news," he replied. Neo waited patiently as he did so, and was slightly surprised by the worried look he got on his face a moment later. Worried, she held out his hand for his scroll. He slowly handed it over, the troubled look never leaving his face. One look at his screen answered her questions, and almost, _almost,_ took away her appetite for her ice cream.

 _Local Grimm suddenly able to use dust like abilities. Aura or something else? For further details, click_ _here_ _._

Neo looked up at Roman, concern written clearly on her face. He just gravely nodded at her.

"Those kids have caused a lot more trouble than we thought. I don't know if I should be more worried or impressed, but either way we're in a lot of trouble now," he said.

 **Hey everyone. Thanks for waiting all of this time for me to update, and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. We finally discovered that they are actually in an alternate time line, and now the enhanced Grimm are showing up in the Altered time line. Uh oh. As I mentioned before, I have been having a lot of writer's block lately, so I'm open to any and all ideas you have. Either leave a review with your idea, or PM me. It would really help a lot, and even if I don't use your idea now, I could always save it for another story. I already have a couple of story ideas, and have had them for a while. I'm eager to wrap this one up so I can start on one of them, but that's gonna be a while yet, especially with how slow I am to update only one story. That's why I am only doing one story at a time, because I don't want to take any longer than necessary to update. So hopefully the next chapter won't take too long, and thanks again for sticking with me this far. Remember to leave any thoughts, comments, criticism (just no flames, please), and ideas for this story in the review section or just PM me. Remember, I don't know if you don't communicate. Anyway, I'm gonna get ready for bed, since I have church tomorrow, and it's already late. Good night, everybody. God bless.**

 **P.S. Sorry if I offended anybody. I am a Christian, and I believe in God. I know not everyone does, and I respect that. Please do not take offense to my belief, just overlook it if you do not feel the same. Good night.**


	9. Chapter 9

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Hello everyone. I'm back with another chapter. I hope you all are enjoying this so far, it's been a lot harder to write than I first thought. Now I have a better understanding of what a lot of the authors on this site go through. Still, it can be rewarding. Also, I want to give a really big thank you to Shandromand, who has really been helping me to improve as an author. If you check the reviews, you'll see one that he/she posted, which admittedly hurt my pride. However, he/she got me to look at my first few chapters and all I can say is I'm really sorry that you had to read that. From now on, nothing gets posted on my account until I proofread it. He/she and I have also PM'd back and forth with him/her giving me some valuable tools and knowledge to help me improve as well. If you haven't read any of his/her works, I highly recommend you do so. They are light years ahead of anything I can do right now. But seriously, thank you for sticking with this story so far. I promise that I am trying to improve, and I hope you've noticed. Without further ado, enjoy!**

 **I obviously do not own RWBY, that credit goes to Rooster Teeth. I also did not come up with the idea of RWBY, that goes to the late Monty Oum, RIP. While I sadly did not know of him until after his death, I still hold much respect for the impact on people's lives that he had, as well as the genius of his works. I can only hope that he would like the idea of this story.**

Chapter Nine:

-Current Time Line-

The dance was in full swing, with people talking, laughing, and of course, dancing. Off to one side, Professor Port was laughing at something that Professor, erm, _Doctor_ Ooblek had said. Elsewhere, Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were watching the dancers, when Ironwood asks her to dance. Reluctantly, she accepts. Phil watched everything as he danced with Solaris, trying desperately to not think about the one girl he refused to flirt with, for a number of reasons.

It's not that she wasn't beautiful. Indeed, Solaris was possibly the most beautiful woman Phil knew. No, rather, she was _too_ beautiful. She didn't just have an attractive body, she had a sharp mind as well, and that was a lethal combination. A woman with both brains and looks was destined to go far, and as far as he was concerned, she had the most of both. Truth be told, she intimidated him a little. There were very few women he considered entering into a real serious relationship with, but she was one of them. The trouble was, he didn't know how to really ask a girl out, just flirt, charm, and woo, courtesy of tips from his father. She was way too smart for any of that, and he would never dare to insult her by trying any of that. Also, they had been friends for practically all of their lives. He wasn't sure if he even had any right to think of her like that. If he said anything, she would probably just laugh at him, and tease him for days to come. No, Solaris was the most beautiful woman he knew, and she was too beautiful for him, both inside and out. Therefore, he would have to think of her as a rare and valuable jewel seen inside of a museum. She may be seen by all, but never owned. As much as he would love to have her, it simply cannot be.

As he thought on his feelings for her, he saw Jaune approach Ruby at the punch bowl, where they started talking. A little ways over, he saw his mom trying to fix some flowers in a vase. She seemed really depressed about something, and it didn't take him long to figure out why. Some ways away he saw his dad laughing about something with Sun and Blake. Phil started to become concerned. _Did she ask him out, only to be rejected? Why? He knows I'm their son, so they obviously end up together. They do still end up together, right? Ugh, all of this temporal travel time line stuff is just way too confusing!_ He decided to check things out for himself.

"Sorry to cut this short. There's something I need to check out, okay?" he said to Solaris. Following his gaze, she figured out what he was talking about.

"Okay, but you'll have to make it up to me later. Now go get him," she said. He thought he heard a flirtatious tone in her voice, but he couldn't be sure. He decided he must be hearing things. Why would a smart and beautiful girl like her ever be interested in a flirt like him? He was too much like his father for his own good.

As he left, Solaris quietly sighed to herself. She had hoped that he would get the hint that she was trying to send. _What was I expecting? He is a natural born flirt, and the son of a flirt. He's probably so used to girls flirting with him that it doesn't even faze him anymore. Still, he seemed surprised to see it coming from me. Perhaps I just need to try harder than that. But, do I have the courage? If I fail, will I ever be able to face him again? Why can't I read when people are interested in me? It's so plain to see when it's about others, so why can't I see when it's directed towards me? Is there anything to see to begin with?_ She sighed again. She really needed time to think.

Phil decided to approach his mother first. As he drew closer to her, she finally gave up trying to fix the drooping flower in the vase she was at. She instead leaned onto the table and began to cry. It was hard to tell, but he knew the signs to look for. She had her head down, facing away from everyone. Her shoulders would occasionally shake a little. There were a few soft sniffles here and there. Seeing her like that made him both concerned about her, and angry towards the one responsible for her being like that. He quietly finished approaching her and put his hand onto her shoulder. She immediately stood up straight, or rather jumped up straight, and turned away from him.

"What do you want?!" she demanded without looking at him, while drying her eyes on the back of her hands. When she received no answer, she turned to see Phil standing there. He immediately pulled her into a hug.

"I just wanted to comfort my mother. I saw you crying, and I wanted to know the cause," he said. The moment he pulled her into a hug, she became paralyzed in shock from the sudden action, but when he mentioned her crying she began to resist.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I wasn't crying!" she protested, still trying to break free of his grasp. Yet still his arms remained firm around her, with her head pressed into his shoulder. Despite looking like her, like a Shnee, he was built so much like _him_ , the boy that ruined her perfect evening by turning her down. She just didn't know what to do, and he wasn't releasing her. After a minute, she gave up and simply let him hold her.

"Mom, even a Shnee can cry. Despite public belief, we're human, too. Besides, you're my mom. I've seen it before, so I know the signs. It's okay. I'm here. Now what's wrong?" He was pretty sure he knew what was wrong, but he wanted to be sure. He didn't want to be too hasty.

"It's your father. I asked him to the dance, but he turned me down. I feel so stupid for crying over this, but I had just really hoped that maybe, just maybe, he felt something for me. Perhaps everything is just too much to take in?" she asked. Phil felt his heart sink. She sounded so sad, so broken, and the boy that was going to be his father was the cause. Worst of all, it was entirely possible that their arrival was the cause for his turning her down. He swore that he would get to the bottom of this. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neptune heading for the stairs leading to the balcony.

"I'm going to go talk to him. It's possible that there's really just a stupid reason behind it. I'm sure of it. And if not, if he's really just not interested, I'll give him a piece of my mind, Shnee style," he said, before letting go of her to follow Neptune. Weiss was too stunned to move, or even speak. Shnee style? What did he mean by that? It's true that the Shnee family is seen as cold and harsh with the way that they deal with others, is that what he meant? Before she could open her mouth to stop him and ask what he meant, he was already up the stairs and out of sight.

As Phil went up the stairs, he passed by Pyrrha, who was coming down the stairs. She seemed really down about something. _I hope it isn't Jaune again. Seriously, that guy needs to get a clue and take a hint. He's denser than whatever that stuff is that Penny is made out of. Heh, maybe we can make another robot out of that thick skull of his. Wow, that got dark real fast._ As he shook himself free of that sudden macabre twist to his thoughts, he heard voices coming from the balcony. He decided to hide himself and listen for a moment.

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing: pbbfff," _That's my dad, he always did hate dances. Mainly due to the fact that he can't dance to save his life. Thank Monty I didn't inherit that from him._

"Yeah," _I wonder what Jaune is doing up here? Was he talking to Pyrrha? He seems upset, if his tone is anything to go by. I hope they didn't fight._

"Cute girls though, huh?" _True, there are some real hotties here._ Just then Jaune grunted in frustration.

"Is that all you think about?" _Huh?_

"Huh?" Neptune said, unknowingly echoing Phil's thought.

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?" _What's gotten into him? I mean, good point, I'll keep that in mind, but what's going on!?_

"Whoa, where's this coming from!?" Neptune said, putting his hands up defensively.

"How could you just turn her down like that?" _Wait, he knows that he shot down Mom? How?_

"Wait, w-who?" _And he doesn't even know. Wow. My dad can be a real jerk sometimes._

"Weiss!" _Get him, Jaune._

"I, uh... it, uh... it just didn't work out, y'know?" Neptune said. Phil felt his blood begin to boil. _It just didn't work out? It just didn't work out!? You're gonna have to do a lot better than that! You're not my dad yet, so you better start explaining right now!_

"What? You think you're too cool? Too many other options? Weiss Shnee asked you to the dance. What in the world could possibly keep you from go-"

"I can't dance," Neptune confessed, interrupting him. _What!? Please, please tell me that's not the real reason why Mom is crying right now._

"Beg your pardon?" Jaune asked, not quite sure if he heard right.

"I can't dance, man," Neptune repeated, looking like he was ready to cry. _You have got to be kidding me. I knew my dad could be dumb, but this is insane. Monty Oum, PLEASE take me now._

"But, you're... so... cool," Jaune stated, still in disbelief.

"Thank you, I try really, really hard," Neptune said, starting to regain his composure. _Don't think that you're escaping that easily. You made Mom cry, you jerk. She hates for anyone to see her like that, and you made her cry in a public place. You WILL be punished, future father or not._

"You would rather break a girl's heart, and go to a dance alone, than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

"That about sums it up, yeah," _Okay, that's it. When Jaune is done talking to you, I'm going to go full on Shnee mode on you. Right now, you're not my father. You're just the punk that broke my future mother's heart. Over what, the simple fact that you can't dance? You're a coward and a lowlife. I'm almost ashamed to know that you're the guy that will father me._ At this point, Phil was beyond furious with Neptune, and it took every ounce of self control he possessed in his mind and body to stay hidden and hear the rest of the conversation. He nearly growled in frustration, but he barely caught himself in time, as the noise would have alerted them to his presence.

"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself," Jaune said, turning his back towards Neptune. _Who can blame you? You're nowhere near as pathetic as he is right now_ , Phil snidely thought.

"Please don't tell anybody," Neptune begged. _Maybe I should tell EVERYBODY. Then you won't have to worry about hiding it, and breaking Mom's heart over your little secret again._ He knew he was being petty, but right now he didn't care.

"Look, if you want Weiss," Neptune continued, catching Phil's attention. "she's all yours, I don't want to get in your way," _What!? That is IT! I've had it! You're dead, Dad!_ As he was about to blow his cover, and possibly attempt to commit murder, Jaune turned around and sighed, causing him to remain behind cover. He still needed to hear Jaune's response, after all.

"Do you like her?" _Yeah, do you, you big jerk?_

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool. I mean, according to team JSPR, I marry her in the future, right? So she must be pretty awesome, if she gets me to settle down with her at some point. I still can't believe it, though. It all just seems so surreal, y'know?" _Then why did you make her cry, you jerk? Is she not cool enough to possibly be okay with you not being able to dance?_

"Look, I get it. It's all a lot to take in. Just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves. Just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go," Jaune said, crossing his arms as he finished. _Just be yourself, huh? Could I do that with Solaris? What am I thinking, she would never be interested in me. She's so smart AND beautiful, she's obviously out of my league. It would take something BIG to convince me that she's actually willing to give me the time of day as far as that goes. Although, she did kinda sound like she was flirting with me earlier, but that had to have been my imagination. I was thinking about her, after all._

"Yeah, but that isn't-"

"Hey," Jaune said, interrupting Neptune. "You don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it," _Heh, Jack said the same thing to me once. Good times. He's pretty cool though, even if he doesn't think so._ Neptune seemed to consider Jaune's words for a moment.

"Yeah. Okay," he said. _Finally._

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night," _I know it will. But we need to talk first._

"Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune," Neptune said, walking towards Jaune with a fist held out for a fist bump.

"Alright, don't lie to my face," Jaune replied, bumping his fist against Neptune's. _So you're fine with us lying behind you're back? I don't think you thought that one through._ As Neptune made to leave, Phil realized that this was his chance.

" **HOLD IT!** " Phil said, jumping out from behind his cover with his finger pointed towards Neptune. Neptune and Jaune turned towards him, confused about his sudden outburst and appearance. "Neptune Vasilias, we need to talk!"

"Uh, what about?" Neptune responded, not sure what he was talking about. Phil glared at him with a look that could melt solid steel. Jaune audibly gulped. _He looks just like Weiss does when she gets REALLY angry. I haven't seen a glare like that since Weiss was angry about not being picked to be leader._

"While Jaune is correct in assuming that you talking to Mom will make her night, you are not escaping until I've had my say!" Phil started, not even bothering to hide the fury in his voice. If anything, his glare got even sharper. Gone for the moment was Phillip Vasilias-Shnee, this was pure, unadulterated, legendary Shnee wrath and fury pouring out of him. And it was all directed at Neptune, who had no choice but to wilt before the infamous Shnee level rage being directed at him.

"Do you realize what your selfish pride did to her? Do you!?" Phil demanded. When Neptune didn't answer, he shouted "ANSWER ME!"

"No sir!" both Jaune and Neptune answered simultaneously, yelping and flinching at Phil's sudden outburst. Phil just ignored Jaune, for he only had eyes for Neptune at the moment.

"You were so caught up with hiding your inability to dance, father," he said, spitting out the word father like it was poison, "that you completely shattered her heart. Do you know how difficult it is to make her cry?" When Neptune didn't say anything, (for he was deathly afraid of this side of Phil, and thus was too terrified to risk unintentionally interrupting him) he more forcefully said "Do you?"

"Um, no sir," Neptune all but squeaked. _This_ was going to be his son? There is no way that he inherited this from him!

"It is very, very, _very_ , difficult. You not only succeeded in making her, cry, but you succeeded in making her cry in public. I can assure you, she absolutely detests crying in public. And yet, you made her do so. Tell me. As her son, how am I supposed to feel? _I_ was the one who comforted her, only to find out that the one who brought her to that point was none other than _you_ ," Phil narrowed his eyes at that point, making his glare sharper and more forceful, much to Jaune and Neptune's disbelief. "You, the man who is going to become my father one day. You are the one to make her weep over your rejecting her. All because you are too ashamed to admit that you cannot dance!?" Throughout his rant, his voice had been dangerously calm, even icy. If Weiss was the ice queen, then his voice would definitely put him in the running for ice emperor. But by that last sentence, it rose until he was practically shouting, revealing the fiery wrath beneath the cool exterior.

"Look, I'm sorry! I was stupid, okay? Please, just let me try to patch things up. I was very, very stupid. I was being selfish and cruel to reject her like that. Let me try to make it up to her," Neptune said, holding his hands out in front of him in an attempt to placate his very justifiably angry future son. Phil continued to glare at him for a moment.

"If you hurt her like that again, then I _will_ hurt you. You are not my father yet. Are we clear?" Neptune gulped at the threat and nodded. "Good," then Phil turned and escorted a very pale Neptune down the stairs. _Remind me to never, EVER, get on his bad side. If looks could kill, then Neptune would easily be dead a million times over. Maybe even a billion_ , Jaune thought as he watched them descend the stairs. He then sighed deeply.

"Alright. Only one thing left to do," With a determined expression, he made his own way down the steps.

Meanwhile, Jack and Raelin were dancing together in the ballroom. They saw Phil take off, and Solaris shortly came over to tell them why. While not very thrilled with the interruption in their surveillance, they understood, and decided to let it slide. After another couple of songs, Jack decided to get some punch, and Raelin escorted him there, eager for some as well. As they were taking their first sips, Solaris nervously approached them.

"Hey, guys. Can I talk to you about something?" she began.

"Um, sure. You know you can talk to us about anything," Jack said, looking very confused at her hesitancy.

"Of course you can. Are you sure you're okay? I haven't seen you this nervous since that time when you accidentally broke one of Neo's parasols," Raelin asked. (Everything turned out okay. Solaris just had to buy her another custom parasol, with a hidden blade. She also had to buy her several gallons of Neopolitan ice cream for punishment. All in all, she got off easy).

"Well, I'm not sure. There's this guy I really like, but I'm not sure if he likes me back," Solaris said, not able to make eye contact with them.

"Uh, you do know that everybody here is technically way older than us, right?" Jack asked, earning him a sharp elbow from Raelin, along with a sharp glare. "What? I'm just saying-" he was quickly cut off by another sharp elbow into his side. Muttering, Jack decided to drop the subject as he rubbed his now sore ribs. After a moment, Raelin decided to stop glaring at him and turned back to Solaris, who still hasn't met their eyes.

"Please ignore him," Raelin said, casting one last glare at Jack. "Who is it that you like?" Solaris hung her head even lower and blushed furiously as she muttered something unintelligible. "Solaris, I know I'm a cat faunus, but even I couldn't hear that.

"Phil," she repeated, just barely audible enough for them to hear this time. Jack nearly choked on his drink when he heard that.

"Phil? You have a crush on _Phil_?" He narrowly managed to get out of the way before Raelin could deliver another one of her sharp elbows to his already hurting ribs. "Hey, I'm not judging or anything, that was just totally unexpected, is all. The guy is practically like his father when it comes to girls. I never saw you as the type to fall for him. You said you have a crush on _him_?" He no sooner finished speaking than Raelin suddenly grabbed his ear in a painful grip and pulled his head close to her mouth.

"Perhaps you should leave, _now_ ," she hissed into his ear, before suddenly shoving him away. He stumbled a little, but somehow managed to avoid falling or spilling his drink, before shrugging and walking away, muttering about how girls just don't seem to make any sense sometimes. Raelin let out a sigh of frustration.

"I love him to death, but sometimes he can be as thick as Jaune," she said, a ghost of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. Solaris finally lifted her head enough to look at her.

"So you do like him?" she asked Raelin. Raelin blushed when she realized she just admitted to loving Jack. She was about to stutter out a denial until she saw the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Instead, she just sighed in resignation.

"Yeah, I do. I have for a long time, now. I dare say I even love him. It's just, I don't know if he loves me back, and I don't want to ruin our friendship. If I tell him, and he doesn't reciprocate, then that would just make things awkward, you know?" Solaris nodded.

"Yeah, I do. That's how I feel about Phil right now. I know about his reputation with girls. We've seen it time and again, right? But I still love him. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I would see him hitting on other girls and feel jealous over it. Just once I want him to flirt with _me_ like that, or look at _me_ the way he looks at some of them. I just don't understand. What do they have that I don't? Is it possible that growing up together means that he doesn't find me attractive?" As she finished her rant, she threw her hands up in frustration. Raelin regarded her for a moment, staring at her as she mulled over how to answer her. After a couple of minutes had passed, and Solaris was just nearing the end of her tolerance for the silence, she answered.

"I know you have difficulty seeing when someone is attracted to you," she began, only to be interrupted by a derisive snort from Solaris. "but let me tell you what I've noticed. Yes, he doesn't flirt with you. And yes, he does flirt with a lot of other women. And yes, we all grew up together. But tell me, when he finds himself with free time, who is the first person he calls?" After a moment, Solaris realized that Raelin was waiting for an answer.

"Uh, me? He usually calls me, saying that he doesn't have any plans, so we'll just chat about whatever," she answered hesitantly. Raelin nodded in confirmation.

"Exactly. Also, all four of us grew up together. Tell me, who does he automatically go to for missions, or just to hang out, or pretty much anything?"

"Me, but I always figured it was just because we were partners,"

"So you're saying he didn't do the same before we joined Beacon?" Solaris was about to say no, until she thought back and realized that she was right. For the last couple of years, Phil had been spending more time with her. He always seemed to have some trivial reason, such as being bored, or she was nearer to him than the others, and he didn't feel like walking the extra distance to get to them, or whatever. She never thought much of it. But looking back, she realized that Raelin was right. They have been spending a lot more time together, he just always came up with some lame excuse to cover for it, and she would always buy it, too dense to see through each and every flimsy excuse. She could have slapped herself for failing to see the pattern that had been emerging for the last couple of years.

"You're finally starting to see it now, aren't you?" Raelin asked, a knowing smirk on her face. Solaris nodded, still mentally kicking herself for failing to notice. Sighing, Raelin looked back in the direction that Jack had gone. "I don't suppose you could tell me if Jack likes me the same way I like him, could you?"

"I think he does, although it's hard to tell. He's always been a little bit tougher to read than most people. He gets his obsession with training from his dad, and I think he decided to try schooling his expressions. That makes him a little tougher to read. I'm just lucky that he either decided not to stick with it, or he's just really, _really_ , bad at it. He seems to care about you a lot, though. And he _has_ been spending a lot more time with you, too," she said, giving Raelin a flirtatious wink at the end to emphasize her point. She succeeded in making her blush, much to her delight. They then began to talk about various other topics, as well as how they would go about letting their special someones know about their true feelings for them.

Jack, meanwhile, had decided to join his mom and aunt Yang after spotting them leaning against the rail of the second floor overlooking the dance floor. As he was going up to meet them, Yang pulled Ruby into a one armed hug from behind that Ruby didn't seem to appreciate too much. Chuckling to himself, he turned and saw Weiss sitting by herself, although she was shortly joined by Neptune and Phil. For some reason, Neptune seemed to be really nervous about something. _I wonder if Phil had to let out his inner Shnee on him? He's usually so laid back, it's easy to forget about that side of him. But when he gets angry, look out! Maybe he saves all of the negative Shnee personality traits that he seems to lack, and condenses it into his angry side? Great, now I am starting to sound like mom, or aunt Yang, or even Solaris._ Shaking his head clear of his thoughts, he heard Yang sigh as he walked up to stand beside Ruby, who hadn't noticed him since her attention was on Yang.

"Tomorrow it's back to work," Yang said, slightly depressed at the thought.

"Well, I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us," Ruby replied optimistically. Just then, laughter started to spread throughout the crowd downstairs. Looking down to see the source, they saw Jaune walking through the ballroom doors in a white strapless dress with a lavender sash around the waist, and white sneakers.

"Except for that?" Jack smugly asked, knowing that the two girls hadn't heard him approach. Sure enough, they both jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Sweet Monty above, you scared me, Jack," Yang said, holding her chest.

"Hey Jack, I didn't notice you coming. But yeah, except for that," Ruby said, awkwardly trying and failing to pretend that she hadn't been startled by him. Chuckling to himself, he decided to watch the scene below them unfold.

As they watched, Jaune made his way through the laughing crowd and began to approach Pyrrha from behind. As he drew close, Pyrrha started to turn around to see what everyone was laughing at. As she finished turning, she saw Jaune. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"This will be good," Jack commented, a grin on his face.

"Oh yeah," Ruby replied, only for Yang to shush them, albeit with a grin on her face.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, fighting not to laugh.

"Eh, a promise is a promise," Jaune said, holding his arms out to his sides. At this point she couldn't contain her laughter anymore.

"Jaune, you didn't have to," she said while trying to regain control of herself.

"Ugh, it's no good. I can't hear anything they're saying!" Yang said.

"Don't worry, I heard this story. Apparently, Jaune thought Pyrrha had dozens of guys asking her to the dance, and said that if she showed up without a date, then he would wear a dress. It looks like he's keeping his word," Jack explained.

"Seriously? The guy sure has guts," Yang replied, looking at Jaune with new respect.

"Is there any stories that you haven't heard?" Ruby grumbled.

"You guys only shared the really interesting ones. There just happens to be a lot of them," Jack said, grinning cheekily at them. Both girls just groaned in response.

"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you want to stand there and laugh at me, or do you want to dance?" Jaune asked, just as Shine by Casey Lee Williams began to play.

"I..." Pyrrha began, taking his outstretched hand. "would love to dance. Oh!" she finished, exclaiming as he pulled her into an embrace so they could dance.

"Oh wow, look at Jaune go!" Ruby exclaimed, as Jaune and Pyrrha began to dance.

"Ren. This. Is. Happening!" Nora exclaimed.

"Wait, what is happening?" Ren asked, only for Nora to pull him onto the dance floor. Raelin and Solaris, who were standing nearby, looked up from their conversation in befuddlement.

"What's going on, and oh my gosh, the dress story is true!" Solaris exclaimed.

"Um, yeah. Everybody was laughing at him when he walked in here wearing it. I tried to tell you, but you were too busy freaking out over how good the punch is," Raelin reminded her.

"Shut up, they're about to dance," Solaris grumbled, eager to change the subject. _It's not my fault the punch here is amazing. Everyone else has already tried some, but my stomach just recently settled from all of these butterflies in it every time I think about asking Phil out. So what if I just tried it? It's good!_

"Okay, how long were they practicing that!? They're amazing!" Yang exclaimed as she was watching JNPR dance together. True enough, JNPR was stealing the spotlight with their dance sequence, which they performed flawlessly together.

"Actually, if you ask them they'll just say that it was spur of the moment. But you're right, that is amazingly good. Of course, Jaune DID grow up with seven sisters," Jack explained. Yang and Ruby just looked at him for a moment.

"Jaune has seven sisters? That... actually explains a lot," Yang said, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yeah," Ruby added, also looking pensive.

"Honestly, I think that they were practicing for a while, though. I heard Jaune muttering something along the lines of 'kickstep, kickstep, bodyroll' over and over to himself the other day. I thought it was related to his combat practice with Pyrrha at the time, but perhaps they were really practicing their dance secretly in their dorm?" Jack added with a shrug. Yang and Ruby just shrugged as well, since they couldn't come up with anything. Meanwhile, Neptune was sitting beside Weiss while Phil stood nearby, far enough away to give them space but close enough to interfere if he deemed it necessary. As they were watching JNPR dance, Weiss decided to ask a question.

"So, what made you change your mind?" she asked. She was really hoping that Neptune wasn't sitting beside her just because of Phil. As noble as his intentions were, she didn't want Neptune to keep her company solely because of guilt. That just wouldn't be right.

"Huh?" Neptune asked, not understanding her question. He had been distracted by the dance, and wasn't really paying attention to her question.

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

"You're lookin' at him," he replied. Looking straight ahead, she saw Jaune still dancing with Pyrrha. Mentally, she sighed in relief. _Thank Monty that it was Jaune who talked some sense into him. Still, it is kind of strange, considering Jaune has been seeking my affection this whole time. Perhaps he has matured these past couple of days?_ Neptune wasn't done explaining himself, though.

"You've got some good friends looking out for you. Our son really cares a lot about you, too," he added, with a slightly noticeable cringe at the end. Weiss noticed the cringe.

"What did he do?" she asked.

"Let's just say that it wasn't anything I didn't deserve. All he really did was make me see what an idiot I was being, and he maybe sorta kinda threatened to hurt me if I hurt you like that again," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously at the last part of his sentence.

"He did what now!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"Hey, I totally deserved it!" Neptune said quickly, as Weiss was getting up to scold Phil. "I was totally being a selfish jerk to you earlier, and he was really upset about me making you cry," he added. At the mention of her crying, Weiss turned back around to face him.

"He told you about that!?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. He said that it was pretty hard to make you cry in public, since you hate it and all. So when he found out that it was me that made you do that, he was pretty upset," at this point Neptune winced at the memory. "Honestly, I never thought such a chill guy could be such and Ice King. I've never seen anything like that. Remind me to never get on his bad side again," Neptune added.

"But I thought you said that it was Jaune who made you decide to talk to me?" Weiss asked, obviously confused.

"It was, Jaune and I talked first, and I was actually on my way to join you, but Phil wanted to make sure that I understood just how much of an idiot I was, and how badly I hurt you. I honestly never realized the consequences of my actions before. I guess I really need to do some thinking about my life choices," Neptune explained, going real pensive as he finished. Weiss just sighed before sitting back down to watch the rest of the dance. Phil, meanwhile, was also thinking about his life choices, wondering if he should work up the nerve to ask Solaris out or not. He really liked her, but he couldn't figure out if she liked him back. He was extremely confused about her flirting with him earlier, as she had never done that with him before. Mentally groaning, he continued his internal debate.

As the night wore on, Neptune finally decided to get over his embarrassment and danced with Weiss. True to his words, he was a terrible dancer, but Weiss didn't mind. Raelin and Solaris continued to talk and drink punch, their mission all but forgotten. Phil was sitting near the spot that Weiss and Neptune were sitting earlier, absorbed in his thoughts, having also forgotten about their mission. Jack was with Ruby and Yang, watching the dancers. Yang had started to flirt with some cute boys, so Ruby and Jack decided to step out for some air. As they were walking, they saw a figure running and leaping across the rooftops. Quickly looking back, Jack realized that there was no way to get Raelin without making a scene and losing valuable time. He decided to just go with Ruby and hope that they two would be enough.

After quickly arriving to the CCT tower, Jack and Ruby noticed an unconscious guard near the door.

"Quickly, she's already inside!" Jack said, momentarily forgetting that Ruby didn't know who they were after.

"Who?" Ruby asked, wondering who they were chasing. Jack mentally cursed himself for his slip up.

"No time, I'll explain later. Come on, hurry!" he said, running ahead so that she wouldn't be able to continue questioning him. Of course, Ruby could easily catch up to him, thanks to her semblance, but she also realized that this wasn't the time for interrogating him. She decided that she was going to get answers from him later, though. As Jack went inside, Ruby pulled out her scroll and summoned her locker from the school, which she approached after it landed and she grabbed her baby, Crescent Rose, from it.

As Jack ran inside he couldn't help but to notice the unconscious guards. He saw that the trail of bodies led to an elevator, and he briefly debated on taking the elevator up. Just then, Ruby rushed inside, thankful for the flat soled shoes that Jack brought for her. She didn't even want to think about trying to rush in here and possibly fight in those wretched lady stilts! Quickly checking the directory, Jack discovered that the floor Cinder most likely would be on would be the fourth floor.

"Mom, you take the stairs and use your semblance to get to the fourth floor. Take one of these guards' scrolls, you'll most likely need it to open the door. I'll take the elevator, it looks like the bad guy used it to get there. Hopefully she won't expect both of us to arrive and attack her, so maybe we'll be lucky and catch her off guard," he said. Ruby nodded, agreeing with his plan. It was a good, solid plan that had the best chance of working. Secretly, she was proud of the fact that he was her son. Or going to be her son. Or... okay, time travel is just weird, confusing, and headache inducing. Dashing off in a flurry of rose petals, Ruby immediately began to climb the stairs, while Jack rushed towards the elevator, intent on reaching Cinder before she could escape.

Cinder, meanwhile, had just finished hacking into the CCT, and was just hanging up with Emerald and Mercury, who had informed her of Ironwood leaving the party. She was wearing a black infiltration suit consisting of a black sleeveless jacket, long black gloves, black stiletto heeled boots, a black glass mask, and several straps with containers of powdered dust lining her black pants. Just as she was standing up, she heard the elevator arrive. Quickly ducking behind cover, she hid out of sight, deciding to wait and see what would happen.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Jack stepped out, Weeping Rose held at the ready in it's base twin scythe form. Slowly, Jack scanned the area, looking for any sign of Cinder.

"Come out, Cinder. I know about your plan. You're not going to get away with it," Jack said. As he stepped closer, Cinder slowly stood up and walked a few steps until she had a clear path to Jack.

"I will only say this once, Cinder. Surren-" he was suddenly cut off as Cinder unclipped a vial of dust and flung some dust in front of her in a wide, sweeping motion. Immediately the dust began to form into large shards of ice, which Cinder then hurled at him. Jack immediately reacted by spinning on the spot, creating a tornado of rose petals around him and hitting the shards away from him with the force of the large number of aura reinforced petals hitting against the shards. Jack immediately retaliated by hurling the petals at Cinder, hoping to overwhelm her aura by trapping her in a tornado of razor sharp petals. Cinder immediately summoned two long swords made entirely of black glass, and slashed several petals before backflipping and leaping into the air. As she did so, she changed her swords into a bow and fired several deadly looking black glass arrows at the petals. The arrows exploded on impact, destroying the petals. Jack merged his scythes into a bow, and began to fire ice arrows at Cinder. She dodged, before firing more explosive glass arrows at him.

Their archery duel continued for several moments, with Cinder narrowly avoiding being caught by the arrows detonating in a burst of ice, and Jack narrowly avoiding being caught by her exploding arrows. Jack then put a little more dust into his arrows and fired five at once, each with more dust than his previous arrows. As before, Cinder dodged by leaping over them, and she attempted to retaliate by shooting more arrows at him. However, four of the arrows exploded, and the explosion was bigger than before, just enough to disorient her while she was airborne. She attempted to right herself, and landed in a crouched position, preparing to attack again. What she didn't expect, however, was that the last arrow had some of Jack's petals inside, and he used them to redirect the arrow towards her foot as she landed. The arrow exploded on impact, encasing her leg in ice. Just then, Ruby came bursting in in a flurry of rose petals. Stopping to survey the scene before her, she saw a masked woman in a skimpy black infiltration suit with her leg encased in ice. Jack quickly fired two more arrows at her, one to freeze her other leg and the other at her torso, which froze her torso and arms together. Ruby kept her weapon trained on her, preventing her from freeing herself. Seeing as they had a moment, Ruby decided to get some answers.

"What's going on? Who is she? What is she even doing here?" she asked. Jack was about to answer, when the elevator suddenly arrived, and out stepped Ironwood. Immediately surveying the scene before him, he called for backup and proceeded to arrest Cinder while detaining Jack and Ruby for questioning.

Meanwhile, Mercury and Emerald were dancing in the ballroom, wondering what was taking Cinder so long. Just as the bell was tolling the midnight hour, several guards came in and immediately arrested them for questioning. Emerald and Mercury began to protest, but the guards turned a deaf ear to them, and instead reminded them of their right to remain silent. Seeing this, SPR facepalmed, embarrassed at forgetting all about their mission. Raelin, especially, was embarrassed, since she was supposed to go with Jack. She hoped he was okay.

Standing some ways away, Ozpin and Goodwitch looked at the scene before them. Goodwitch was embarrassed and angry that the party was being interrupted by the arrest of two visiting students, while Ozpin remained stoic and unreadable. Suddenly, his scroll vibrated, and he took it out to see that it was a message from Ironwood.

"Well now, this is interesting," he said, reading the message.

"I hope so. Ironwood better have a good reason for arresting two students from a visiting kingdom," Goodwitch seethed.

"Three, actually. One was arrested in the CCT tower. Apparently, Mr. Flint and Ms. Rose managed to apprehend her after she managed to break in and hack the computers in the tower. To what end is still being investigated. The hacker is one Cinder Fall, and apparently those two are her teammates. Their fourth teammate is yet to be found, apparently," Ozpin informed her. Goodwitch looked at him in shock.

"Someone managed to break into the CCT tower and hack the computers? That place is supposed to be heavily guarded!" she exclaimed.

"And yet it was done. Fortunately, two of our students were able to apprehend Ms. Fall. James is questioning them now, and will no doubt inform us of the details later. Of course, I intend to ask them a few questions myself after they have had some time to process tonight's events," he told her. Goodwitch looked down at the ground with a troubled expression.

"I'm glad that Jack and Ruby were able to stop Cinder, but I can't help but to wonder what she was doing there. Also, I can't shake the feeling that the worst is still to come. What is going on?" she asked, almost to herself.

"I don't know, Glynda. All we can do is to prepare our students to the best of our ability, and hope for the best. But we will face it when the time comes. For now, let us take joy in our small victory tonight. After all, it was two of our students that stopped her, and led to these arrests," he said with a small smile.

"You almost sound like you're addressing the students, instead of your fellow colleague," she said, rolling her eyes as she looked at him.

"Perhaps," he said, allowing himself to chuckle. "It is a force of habit, I suppose. Shall we get some coffee? I have a feeling we will be up for a few hours yet," he said as he turned to start walking. Goodwitch groaned.

"I suppose we'll need it. Tomorrow is going to be rough, with the lack of sleep we'll be getting," she grumbled. Ozpin remained silent, but silently he nodded his head in agreement. He wasn't going to say anything yet, but he also had a nagging suspicion that the worse was still yet to come. And he also felt that the time traveling team JSPR was at the center of it all.

 **And done! Finally, I finished what has to be my longest chapter yet! Woo hoo! So in case anyone was wondering, Cinder's Faction being arrested does not mean the end of this story. In addition to Roman, Neo, and Adam being out there still, there's also the new Grimm that has slowly been on the rise. I also have a couple more surprises in store. So their troubles are far from over. Also, at the time that this story started, Volume Four was still a good ways off from being released. As I said back in the first chapter, since we knew almost nothing about Salem or her faction, they will not exist in this AU I've created. In other words, Cinder is the boss in this story, and there is no Salem or any of those other new characters introduced in Volume Four. Also, Adam is the leader of the White Fang, not whoever it is that they mentioned in Volume Four. Don't worry, though. I do have other lovely surprises in store to cause our heroes some grief.**

 **Also, I've come to realize that I've been too focused on reviews. For a while now I've been really discouraged at the lack of feedback I've been getting. I still want your feedback, either by review or PM, but I've been letting the lack thereof affect my attitude towards writing this. I would put off writing because I didn't feel like it, because somewhere in my mind I was asking 'what's the point?' But now I realize that's not why I should write. I started writing this because I want to, and people read this because they want to. Yes, I want to hear from you. It means a lot to me. But that shouldn't be my main focus for this story. I realize that now.**

 **Also, in case anyone is interested, I'm going to be collaborating with another author on this site by the name of Fatti-chan. We will be writing a story about Link from Ocarina of Time finding himself in different worlds, and his reaction. The ideas we are getting together are pretty good so far, and he/she sent me a little piece he/she wrote about his meeting Sephiroth and Cloud. It was really good. The title we have so far is called Link in Wanderland. If it changes then I will update this chapter with the correct title. I eventually plan on dropping him in the RWBY verse at some point. I'll be sticking him in Undertale first, though. Keep an eye out for it, it will be on Fatti-chan's account, since it was his/her plot bunny. Also, if anyone wants me to include JSPR or any other OC's that you can come up with, let me know. Anyway, this author note has gotten way too long, so until next time, this is Jack54311 signing out!**


	10. Chapter 10

RWBY: Time Paradox

 **Hey everyone, I'm alive! I've had some personal stuff that needed dealt with, and by the time I got back to this, it had been so long that I was a bit intimidated to start on it again. So yeah, anyway I managed to get back to this, that's what counts, right? I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed. Also, an author who read this suggested I do a spin off story to this focusing on Roman and Neo working cases together. I plan on making it a series of one shots that start with their first case and then go in no particular order. Basically something to do for fun. If anyone has any suggestions, please do not hesitate to share. I could use all of the ideas that I can get. Anyway, I've kept you waiting too long, so let's start the show!**

 **I do not own RWBY. I only own my OCs and this plot.**

Chapter Ten:

"They were here. Ozpin, they were here!" General Ironwood said, slamming his fist onto Ozpin's desk. "They were here, and if those two students hadn't shown up, then they very well could've escaped!"

"We're very much aware of that," Glynda Goodwitch said, her tone showing that she was growing exasperated with Ironwood's ranting. He had been on a warpath ever since arresting Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. He believed that they had merely been lucky to avoid them escaping, and believed that Ozpin had been grossly negligent in handling the situation.

"Fantastic, you're aware," Ironwood sarcastically replied, "Now are we going to do something about it, or are we just going to stay the course and ignore what's right in front of us?" He emphasized his point by pointing at the ground in front of him with the last five words. Suddenly, Ozpin's desk started beeping, signaling the elevator arriving at his floor. Slowly, Ozpin stood up from his desk.

"Come in," Ozpin said, as he finished standing. The elevator doors whooshed open, revealing two occupants, Jack and Ruby.

"Ah! Sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all of the buttons in the elevator on the way up here. It wasn't me. Umm... Jack did it!" Ruby said, pointing at Jack. Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head, crossing his arms as he did so. The three adults in the room didn't look convinced with her obvious lie. Ruby sheepishly looked down, realizing they didn't believe her lie.

"Thank you for coming Ruby, Jack. How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked.

"Okay, I guess. I'm just glad that we caught the bad guys. Now my bad guy catching record is officially 1-2!" Ruby said with a slight chuckle.

"I'm alright. I'm just glad that we were able to stop them in time. I'll feel even better if someone can figure out what Cinder did in the CCT and reverse it," Jack said, looking thoughtful. Just then something occurred to him. "You know, technically your bad guy catching record would be 3-2, since we got Cinder, which led to Mercury and Emerald being caught."

"Oh yeah, your right! Awesome!" Ruby exclaimed with a smile. "Now my bad guy catching record is in the positive!" She concluded this by making peace/victory signs with her hands. Jack smiled at her. Even as an adult, she never lost that energy and passion that she possessed even now. Seeing her like this, his homesickness wasn't quite so bad.

"On that note," Ironwood interrupted, walking toward them as he did, "I feel it is appropriate to let the two of you know that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a huntsman and huntress is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could. You even managed to apprehend the suspect, and you were able to provide information which led to the arrest of two of her teammates. You two have done extremely well, and even more _seasoned_ huntsmen could learn from your example," Ironwood gave a more pointed glare to Ozpin as he stressed the word seasoned. Jack recognized the hostility in his tone and actions, and decided to say something he may regret.

"I appreciate the kind words, sir, but you're not exactly very young yourself."

To say that everyone was shocked would be correct. Ruby's jaw dropped, before she had to fight back giggles. Goodwitch was torn between glaring at him for his impudence, and smirking at General Ironwood being told off. She settled for a mix between the two. Ozpin kept a carefully neutral expression, but inside he was smirking at the boy's cheek. Ironwood, meanwhile, was stunned, but quickly grew angry.

"While you did act bravely, as any huntsman should, you should learn to respect your betters," he said, although his tone made it more of a demand. _Well, I'm already this far, I might as well roll with it,_ Jack thought.

"Sure, I respect my betters," Jack said with a shrug, "But tossing backhanded insults to others while giving praise is pretty low. If you're low enough to do that, then you're obviously not my better," He put on his cheekiest grin as he said that last sentence. Ironwood narrowed his eyes, already not liking him.

"Now you listen here, I have fought for and defended these kingdoms! I serve on the Atlas council-"

"And I don't care," Jack interrupted Ironwood's rant. "You just used a compliment to us as a way to take a jab at professor Ozpin, our headmaster. I don't care what you're disagreeing on, but that is pretty immature and, in my opinion, unbecoming of someone of your position. If it's about this whole Cinder situation, then he had it handled, and you're out of line."

"I'm out of line!?" Ironwood seethed. Despite not liking the fact that a student was telling off a headmaster and General, Goodwitch couldn't help but agree with Jack's infallible logic. Secretly, she allowed herself a small smirk. Ironwood, however, did not like this at all. Pointing his finger at Jack he said, "If you're so sure that Ozpin had it handled, then tell me what he was doing!" Jack looked over to Ozpin, seeking permission. Ozpin nodded, a neutral expression on his face.

"It's all right. Despite his tendency to sometimes be a bit overzealous, he is still someone I trust very much. He is a trusted friend of mine, and I believe he can be trusted with this information," Ozpin said. Goodwitch scoffed, obviously disagreeing.

"You're not seriously going to allow this, are you?" she asked Ozpin.

"He has been standing here in my office, accusing me of inaction. I've already trusted him with other vital secrets, one more won't hurt," Ozpin countered.

"Those secrets are why he's here, accusing you of inaction in the first place!" Goodwitch responded.

"What are you two talking about?" Ironwood demanded.

"Uh, you probably aren't going to believe this, but can you promise to keep this confidential?" Jack asked. Ironwood narrowed his eyes at him, then turned to Ozpin.

"You trusted a student with confidential information?" he asked. His tone made it clear that he was not happy.

"Hardly. He and his team had this information first. Only he, his team, and the parties affected are privy to this information, as well as Glynda and myself," That seemed to somewhat mollify the General. Nodding, he gestured to Jack to continue.

"Well, as I said, you probably aren't going to believe this, but my team and I... we aren't exactly from around here," Jack began, shuffling a bit nervously, "I mean, we are from around here, but we're also not. What I'm trying to say is that we come from the future. Or rather, an alternate future." Ironwood was silent for a moment, not quite sure how to react. Then...

"Ozpin, do you seriously expect me to believe this?" Ironwood asked, turning to Ozpin.

"Yes, James. I do. Miss Rose only has one sibling, and that is her sister. Look at her and Mr. Flint, and tell me what you see," Ozpin replied. Ironwood took a close look at both Ruby and Jack for a minute. He noted their hair color, their silver eyes, the similar skin complexion, although Jack appeared slightly paler than her, as well as their similar sense of fashion. He analyzed every similarity and difference. Finally, he turned back to Ozpin.

"I admit, they do bear a remarkable resemblance to each other. But that alone won't convince me of this preposterous story!"

"Phil, one of my teammates, can create glyphs like the Schnee family uses. He's Weiss Shnee's son," Jack interjected. Ironwood flinched in surprise.

"Is this true?" he asked.

"It is. I've seen him use them in combat training. He is remarkably skilled, and you yourself are well aware that there isn't a 17 year old male Schnee huntsman," Goodwitch replied. Ironwood took on a contemplative look, thinking over and analyzing this new information, comparing it to what he already knew about the Schnee family. Finally, he looked at Jack again.

"You say you're from an alternate future?" Jack nodded in response. "Tell me, what do you mean by alternate? What is different?" Jack hesitated a moment before answering. He had told Ozpin and Goodwitch, but only because they deserved to know, since he and his team just showed up out of the blue. Seeing Ozpin give a slight nod, he took a deep breath and explained.

"Well, uh..." Jack nervously put a hand onto the back of his neck, shuffling in a manner similar to Ruby, "my dad is sorta from an alternate future as well, one where Cinder and the bad guys weren't caught," At this piece of news, Ironwood narrowed his eyes and the atmosphere seemed to grow more serious.

"Go on," Ironwood said.

"It's a bit of a long story, and I don't really know all of the details. My dad doesn't really like to talk about it, and it kind of happened before his time. His grandmother was involved, though. You see, my dad's grandmother, which makes her my great grandmother, is Weiss Schnee," At this piece of news, all of the adults were surprised. He hadn't told any of them this.

"Why haven't you mentioned this to us?" Goodwitch demanded, glaring sharply at him.

"It just didn't seem important," Jack replied with a shrug.

"Anything else you left out?" she demanded.

"Well, you really should learn to relax more. All of your pent up stress is going to make you look old. I mean, really old. Ozpin still looks the same, though," Jack said with a smile. Goodwitch seemed surprised, and slightly worried, before she decided to glare at him some more.

"While this is somewhat amusing, please continue explaining more about your alternate future," Ironwood said, bringing them back on track.

"Right! So according to what my dad did tell us, Cinder and her team teamed up with the White Fang to assault the school by releasing a whole bunch of Grimm into the school. They attacked at some point during the Vytal festival, and the White Fang attacked during the chaos from all of those Grimm running around. Apparently, right after they succeeded in taking down the school Adam, the White Fang's leader betrayed Cinder and he and his soldiers killed her and her two teammates. Roman Torchwick died during the assault, apparently he got eaten by a Grimm or something. Long story short, the White Fang ruled Vale with strength and fear, as well as daily executions of humans and any faunus suspected of aiding or even showing any kindness toward humans," at this everyone looked disgusted.

"That's so sad," Ruby commented, looking down.

"This is just more reason to make sure that the White Fang are stopped and eradicated," Ironwood said, slamming a fist down into his open palm.

"Actually, there's no need for that. You see, among the survivors is my uncle Alex. Well, he's actually not my uncle, he's my cousin's uncle. But he's like an uncle to me. My parents and I would go on vacations and trips with him. But the Alex from my dad's time line had this idea for a one way time machine, and he and the other survivors spent many years designing, gathering parts for, and building the machine. Eventually, my dad was selected to use it, since he was the best fighter out of everyone young enough to withstand any potential stresses traveling through time could cause, as well as be able to properly carry out his mission. Basically, he was assigned the task of locating and killing Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury before the events leading up to the Fall could happen."

"So your father was sent back in time as an assassin? I'm assuming that he was successful. What then?" Ironwood asked.

"Yeah, basically he was. As you just guessed, he did succeed. He was arrested at first, but considering the remains of the pod he used to travel back were still there he had a pretty easy time proving he was from the future. Life remained peaceful, dad married mom," at this he pointed his thumb at Ruby, "and all was well."

"But what does this have to do with the White Fang?" Ironwood asked.

"Oh, right! Sorry, I almost forgot, heh heh..." Jack trailed off, a sheepish expression on his face. "My parents became full time huntsmen, or huntress in mom's case. I wonder what the term is for huntsmen and huntresses when describing them in general? Anyway, my dad also convinced Roman Torchwick to leave crime and become a private investigator. How is another story entirely. Weiss eventually gained control of the SDC with some help from Alex, who in our time line is the owner of a very successful company of his own and a major pro at gathering information. My aunt Yang also became a full time huntress, while her husband split his time between being a huntsman and helping his brother, which is my uncle Alex. Blake, however..." Jack trailed off, realizing that he had no clue as to whether or not the adults here knew of Blake's heritage. He quickly decided to stretch the truth a bit. "Blake knew someone who used to be in the White Fang, but left after they became more violent. Together, they managed to gain control of the White Fang with my dad's help, as well as her then boyfriend and now husband Sun Wukong. Under their control, the White Fang completely turned around and became a peaceful organization to promote faunus equality, rather than the terrorist group that they are now fighting for faunus supremacy. After Weiss gained control of the SDC, Blake was appointed head of human-faunus relations, and together they have done an excellent job of turning the SDC into a company that is well respected and is an equal opportunity employer for both humans and faunus," Jack concluded. Ruby beamed proudly at everyone's accomplishments.

"...I see," Ironwood said, allowing all of this new information to sink in. "I would like to hear more about your father's involvement with Torchwick, but that can wait for another time."

"Yes, I would also like to hear about that. I'm sure it will be most interesting. But for now, we have more pressing matters," Ozpin added. "Now the General has already informed us of last night's events, but now that you both have rested we were wondering if either of you had anything that you would like to add." Jack and Ruby were quiet for a moment as they both thought over whether or not there was anything pertinent to add. Finally, Ruby seemed to have an idea.

"We know that Cinder is connected to the White Fang, right?" At her question everyone nodded. "Well, we did some investigating of our own and found out that the White Fang have a hideout in the southeast, just outside of the kingdom. Maybe we will find Roman Torchwick there?" she suggested.

"It is an interesting possibility. Perhaps we can look into it. I will certainly consider it. But, tell me, what prompted you to do some investigating of your own?" Ozpin asked.

"It's a bit of a long story..." Ruby said, not sure how to explain. Jack stepped in to rescue her, knowing how much of a touchy subject Blake's past was with the White Fang.

"If I recall correctly, Blake and Weiss had a fight earlier this year, and it resulted in Blake running away for a whole weekend, right?" Jack asked Ruby, wanting to make sure that he had his facts straight. Ruby nodded, wondering where he was going with this. "While Blake was gone, and you were all searching for her, she ended up coming across an attempted dust heist by the White Fang, right?" Again Ruby nodded. "And during that heist, she saw Roman Torchwick ordering them around?" Another nod. "So, knowing that the White Fang of this time line hates humans, that's highly unusual. Isn't that why you all decided to check it out? After all, this could be really big, and as huntresses in training you wanted to get to the bottom of it?"

"Well... basically, yeah. It's sort of like that..." Ruby answered, trailing off as she did so. While there was more to it than that, she wasn't sure how much to actually say. She was thankful for Jack's quick thinking, though. Ozpin, who knew about Blake's connection to the White Fang, realized that Jack was helping Ruby cover for her teammate. He decided to let it slide since he wasn't sure how well James would react to her past with them.

"Interesting. Well you were certainly correct in your assumption that it was something big, as Jack so tactfully put it. However, next time I suggest that you report to me, or perhaps a trusted teacher next time. Glynda would certainly appreciate it if you could keep her informed, and she is a highly skilled huntress. She would be someone I would highly recommend, should you be unable or unwilling to report any strange activity to me. It would be most unfortunate if you were hurt or killed simply because you were tracking criminals on your own," Ozpin said, effectively reprimanding them and ending the conversation at the same time.

"Please, do tell someone before deciding to strike out on your own. You especially, Mr. Flint, should have said something to either the headmaster or myself. Why didn't you?" Goodwitch asked.

"I didn't really want to alter history too much, not anymore than our being here would alter it anyway. Also, I actually didn't know that Mr. Torchwick was involved with the White Fang until after we did our investigating. I only knew that he had a criminal past, and he used to be pretty big in the criminal underworld," he answered. Jack looked pretty dejected as he said that. The adults quickly realized that the Roman Torchwick of his time must have a pretty good relationship with him, if his expression is anything to go by. Ozpin decided to go ahead and dismiss them.

"In any case, thank you both for your cooperation. You and your teams have both done well so far, albeit you were a bit reckless. Why don't you go and spend some time with them. You have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime," Ruby replied, turning to leave.

"No problem, sir," Jack replied, also turning to leave. The three adults watched them leave, each of them dwelling in their own thoughts.

As Jack and Ruby were entering their rooms, they both opened their doors to a similar scene. Their teammates were at the door, and immediately upon opening were in their face, demanding to know what happened. Upon noticing this, Jack and Ruby both looked to each other and shared a sympathetic smile before entering their rooms to explain.

After explaining how the conversation went, his teammates apologized for forgetting about their mission. They each had trouble meeting his eyes. Raelin especially found that she couldn't even look at his face, she was so consumed with guilt. She stared at the floor, her cat ears flattening themselves sadly against her head. Jack looked at them for a moment, and specifically at Raelin for a long moment, before sighing, though from what emotion he couldn't quite place.

"Look, I know you guys are beating yourselves up over forgetting the mission yesterday. I get it, okay? But I'm not holding it against you. Let's just learn from this, and move on. If we treat this as a learning experience, then we can look at this objectively and use it to do better in the future, right?" Jack said, hoping that his words would somehow make them feel better. Unfortunately, it didn't really seem to be working. Raelin sadly looked up at him, but she still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Jack, that's easy for you to say. You never forgot. But I was supposed to go with you. Jack... I let you down. If something had happened to you, it was because I wasn't there, and I should have been. I'm glad that everything turned out well, but still..." at this her eyes immediately turned back to the floor, unable to even look in the general direction of his face. Jack looked at his other two teammates, seeing that they were still feeling guilty for forgetting the mission. Jack sighed again, although this time it was from frustration.

"Okay, we have an official mission today and we are not going out there like this. So we are going to resolve this right now, got it?" Jack said. He allowed his frustration to show in his voice and posture. His teammates nodded in silence, but their expressions showed that they didn't have much hope for it. Jack decided to try going for the source of their distractions.

"Okay, first I want to ask you, Phil, what you were doing when you forgot about the mission. The last we saw of you was when you went to go talk to your future dad. What happened after that?" Jack asked. Phil shifted uncomfortably, not really eager to share. Still, he knew that Jack was right about them not needing to go on another mission with these issues unresolved. So reluctantly, he told them.

"Well, the short version is that I followed him up the steps to the balcony and overheard a conversation between him and Jaune. Jaune said some things up there that really had me thinking about some stuff. I guess I just got caught up reexamining some of my life choices. Nothing related to being on this team, of course, just the way I've always gone around flirting with random girls. Jaune made me realize that it may not be as harmless as I always thought," Phil said, sadly looking down to the floor as he said that last part. Jack nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad you're finally starting to see it. We've tried to tell you before, but you had always just brushed us off. It's good to see that you've finally matured enough to see it now. I suppose I'm fine with letting this slide, seeing as to how it was a major life altering event for you. Ladies, what do you say?" Jack asked, looking at Solaris and Raelin.

"Yeah, it's fine. No hard feelings," Raelin glumly replied, barely looking at him for a brief moment before staring at her lap again, since she was seated on her bed.

"Uh, yeah. What she said. I'm proud of you," Solaris awkwardly said, shooting him a half smile. She looked down at her own lap, since she was seated beside Raelin. _It's not like flirting is going to get me anywhere with him,_ she sadly thought to herself.

"Ooookaaaay..." Phil said, staring at the girls, "Is it just me, or are the girls acting really weird?"

"Definitely weird. And I'm going to get to the bottom of it. Now then, Solaris, I'm guessing you and Raelin continued talking about the topic you approached us with when Phil went upstairs?" At this Phil sent her a questioning look and Solaris squirmed in her spot while blushing deeply. Small wisps of flame began to rise from her hair, but Raelin gently nudged her with her elbow to get her attention and she quickly put it out.

"Uh... yeah. We did. I guess I got really caught up in that. I... I'm sorry. It's just something really... personal. Please don't be mad..." Jack couldn't remember the last time he had her her voice be so small. She looked like a small child that had done something bad and was being punished for it, and her voice was so soft that if he had been standing any further away he would not have been able to hear her. As it was, he had to strain to hear her.

"Of course I'm not mad. That was something really personal, and I fully understand. You're forgiven as well," Jack said.

"You know I'm not going to hold it against you," Raelin said, looking up at her and smiling sadly. Everyone turned to look at Phil.

"Why am I the only one who's being left out of this?" he asked with a slightly hurt expression. Jack cringed at his mistake in allowing Phil to realize that he's out of the loop.

"Uh..." Jack stalled, trying to come up with something. Fortunately, Raelin came to his rescue.

"Actually, I sent Jack away when we heard what it was about. Among other things that you guys just wouldn't get, she was bothered by your nearly constant flirting with other girls. The only reason I'm saying this now is because you admitted to realizing that it's not as harmless as you thought," Raelin said, quickly twisting and distorting the facts to cover for Solaris. Solaris quietly mouthed a grateful thank you to her when Phil wasn't looking. Phil, meanwhile, seemed satisfied with her answer.

"Okay, now that just leaves you, Raelin," Jack said.

"I got caught up talking to Solaris, that's all. I'm sorry," Raelin quickly said. Something about her statement didn't seem right, however. Jack decided to dig a little.

"Are you sure that's it? There's nothing else?" he pressed.

"Yes, that's all there was to it. I'm sorry," she repeated. Jack sighed again, this time in disappointment.

"You're lying," he said, disappointment and hurt clear in his tone and body language. Everyone looked at him with a startled expression, especially Raelin.

"W-what do you mean? Of c-course I'm telling the truth!" she quickly stammered out. Jack forced himself to refrain from sighing again. He was doing a lot of that today, it seemed.

"Raelin, you always stutter when you realize you've been caught lying. Also, I knew you were lying because your ears always twitch when you lie. I even asked you if you were sure if that was it just to make sure it wasn't a coincidence. Now could you please tell us what really happened?" Jack asked, clearly hurt that she would lie to him.

Raelin looked away from him. She couldn't tell him that she had been expressing her own feelings about him to Solaris. Not now. Not after she had failed him so miserably. He had been counting on her. Relying on her. Trusting her to be there when the time for action came. Instead, she had allowed the mission to slip from her mind over her own feelings. No, she had no right to tell him that, not now.

"I... I don't want to talk about it. I'll be fine. I won't fail you this time," she said, refusing to meet Jack's gaze. Jack was about to argue, but he was cut off by the intercom.

"Will all first year students please report to the amphitheater," came the voice of professor Glynda Goodwitch. In one fluid motion, Raelin stood up, tied her bow over her ears, and was out the door before anyone could even say anything. Jack just stared after her, dumbfounded.

"Don't worry, just give her some time," Solaris said, placing a comforting hand onto his shoulder.

"What is it that she talked about? This isn't like her," Jack asked, turning to look at her. Solaris shook her head.

"It's something personal. It's not my place to tell. She will, in her own time. Just leave it be for now," was her response, before passing him and following Raelin down the hall. As she disappeared, Phil stepped up beside him.

"I'm guessing that there was more to what Solaris said than what I was told, and you can't talk about it?" Phil asked. Jack nodded in response, still piecing together what just happened with Raelin. "Yeah, I thought so. Just tell me, is it something that I should be hurt over for being left out on?" he asked, allowing his mask of calm acceptance for Raelin's explanation to slip off now that the girls were gone. He had always allowed himself to show his true feelings around Jack, since he was his closest male friend. However, he always put an emotional mask on over his insecurities around others, even his other close friends. As heir to the Schnee Dust Company, he had to appear strong and sure at all times, and as is the case with Raelin and Solaris, he couldn't let himself be uncool enough to truly show how hurt he was. Jack only had that privilege because he was his closest guy friend, and he had a good head for advice, something he takes after his father in. Other than Jack, only his parents and a few close family members or staff members ever saw the real him.

Jack sighed once more and shook his head. He really needed to stop sighing so much, he mentally noted.

"No, the part I caught before getting kicked out by Raelin is that she has a crush on some guy. Yes, I heard who, and no, I'm not allowed to say. But you have nothing to worry about, trust me. He's a pretty cool guy, from what I know," Jack said with a smirk. Phil was unfortunately slow to pick up on the hint Jack gave him. He was busy mourning the loss of a possible romantic relationship with her. It took a few moments for the last sentence to register.

"Wait a minute, a pretty cool guy? You don't mean..." he trailed off, seeing the playful smirk on Jack's face. Jack gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Hey, I'm not allowed to say who I heard she likes. All I know is that this guy is pretty cool. I will say this, though. The rest of the competition, assuming you're in the running and excluding myself, are technically a lot older than us. So that would be weird," Jack said, smirking at him. Jack had secretly been shipping Phil and his cousin for a long time now, and was all too happy to help things along for them. And hey, he never really said who, did he? So if Phil figures it out, then he couldn't really be accused of telling him, right?

"So I do have a chance..." Phil whispered, seeming to be thinking aloud to himself. Jack smiled.

"Hey, if you really like her, go for it. Of course, I never told you anything. Just remember, she respects honesty. No gimmicks, no suave moves, just plain and simple honesty. Alright?"

"Right. Thanks, Jack. I really mean it. And don't worry, I never heard a thing," Phil gave a thumbs up and a grateful smile before heading out the door. As soon as Phil left, Jack's smile faltered. He knew that he had done the right thing for Phil and his cousin. Sure, he laughed yesterday at the dance when he found out that Solaris liked him. Sure, he had been shipping them secretly for a while. But he knew that Phil was a notorious flirt, and he honestly never thought that it would happen until at least a few years later. Still, after seeing Phil mature like this, he was all too happy.

Yes, he was glad for them. But Raelin had him worried. After their conversation a couple of days ago, he had been doing some serious thinking. What did that look in her eyes mean? Could it be that she had feelings for him? Did she want to be more than just friends with him? What did he want? He knew that he liked her. He really did. But did he love her?

The truth is, he did. He didn't realize it for a long time. Even yesterday at the dance, he wasn't sure. When he saw her in her dress, he definitely felt something. He was so used to seeing her in her normal everyday clothes that he had forgotten just how beautiful she could look when she tried. But even in her normal outfit she had a way of standing out, at least to him. But today, seeing her so broken at the fact that she feels like she had failed him, and seeing her leave like that, refusing to speak, he knew. There was no way that he could hurt like this if he didn't love her.

What could it possibly be that she didn't want to speak about? _Look, kid. You wanna help? Fine. Let's see if you can figure this out. Solve this case. See, I already have all of the evidence. What can you make of it?_ That's what Mr. Torchwick had said to him the first time he had asked to help him with one of his cases. It took him some time, but he eventually managed to piece all of the evidence together to solve the case. Of course Mr. Torchwick had already solved it, and Jack had taken a little too long to solve it, but he was only ten at the time. Still, while Mr. Torchwick hadn't exactly said as much, he had been impressed that he could still solve it at all. Neo had practically beamed at him for managing to do so. That was the start of him teaching him how to be a detective, and Jack had even managed to talk him into showing his friends as well. These same friends were the three people who became his team, and together they even managed to help Mr. Torchwick with some of his cases. Granted, he also would sometimes have them do more secretarial work, but it was still worth it in the end.

This was no different. He knew that he had all of the evidence. Their conversation a couple of days ago. Her words to him today. The look shared between her and his cousin... wait. Could it be? He knew that Solaris had spoken to her about her feelings for Phil. Is it possible that...

The pleading look in her eyes in the restaurant. Her blushing when she asked him to be her date for the dance. He had dismissed it as a figment of his imagination at the time, but now he wasn't so sure. The way she smiled at him while they were dancing. She was nervous, shy even. A sharp contrast to her usually more calm and collected demeanor. Today, she was being especially hard on herself because she felt that she had let him down. And her words earlier... she seemed especially upset at the thought of something bad happening to him because she wasn't there. Could it be that she had a conversation with Solaris that was of a similar nature to the one that Solaris had with her? Could it be that Raelin reciprocated his feelings for her?

Yes, that had to be it. It was the only logical conclusion. But now the question becomes what to do about it. She was obviously too distraught for such a conversation now. Also, there was still their first official Beacon mission today. Speaking of which, his team is waiting for him, no doubt wondering what happened to him. He decided to shelve his thoughts for later. He would definitely have to talk to Raelin when things settled down somewhat.

As he was leaving his dorm, he caught sight of Ruby leaving with her backpack. While there was nothing unusual about that, seeing as to how he had his on as well, what was unusual was the small furry head that poked out of the top. After a moment, he realized what the head belonged to. Grinning, he ran to catch up to her.

"Hey mom! Is that Zwei?" he asked as he neared her. Jumping, she immediately turned to him and mad a big shushing motion and sound at him.

"Shush! My dad just sent him in the mail to us today. My team thinks we're leaving him for the week, but I just can't bear the thought of poor Zwei all alone for the whole time. Don't tell anybody, please?" she asked, making a really cute pleading face. Jack chuckled.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Now come on, our teams are probably wondering what happened to us," he said. Ruby immediately got a panicked look on her face at the reminder.

"Oh, right! Thank Jack!" she said before immediately disappearing in a flurry of rose petals. Jack chuckled at the sight. _She really doesn't change all that much_ , he thought.

As he finally reached the amphitheater, he saw team RWBY and the rest of his team standing near professor Ozpin at a large holographic terminal. As soon as he approached, Weiss and the others immediately glared at him.

"Where where you! You completely missed professor Ozpin's speech, and even kept us waiting here for two minutes!" Weiss practically yelled at him. Jack rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Sorry. I kinda got caught up in my thoughts. There were some things that I was trying to work out. I... I may have gotten a bit turned around on the way here as a result. Also, I don't have my mom's speed semblance," he said. Weiss glared at him a moment longer, before Ozpin stepped in.

"Mr. Flint, I advise you to be more punctual from here on out. Tardiness is not a good trait for a huntsman. Now then, since you are all here, I believe that it is time for you to be given your assignments. After you and Ms. Rose left my office this morning, my colleagues and I discussed the information you had given us, as well as what little information the General has managed to obtain from Cinder and her associates," at the mention of Cinder, Raelin's head lowered. _I will have to talk to her soon_ , Jack thought.

"While the other teams are selecting their own assignments, we decided that due to your exemplary performances thus far you will be given assignments normally deemed too dangerous for first year students. Team RWBY, you will be shadowing a huntsman on a search and destroy mission in Quadrant 5. As you may or may not be aware, Quadrant 5 is the location of Mountain Glenn. Due to the information you gathered during your own reconnaissance, I believe this to be a very possible location for the White Fang hideout that you heard mentioned. You are to locate this base, and report it back. Proper authorities will handle it from there. You are there to observe only, not engage. Is that clear?" Ozpin asked, giving a pointed look to team RWBY. They all responded with their own respective version of a quick 'yes sir!' and a nod.

"Good. Team JSPR, you will also be shadowing a huntsman here in Vale in a search for the notorious leader of the White Fang, Adam Taurus. Again, you are only there to observe. Do not engage under any circumstances. You are only to defend your lives, that's it. Even so, you must take every precaution to avoid such a circumstance. But I want all of you to hear me. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsman at all times. And do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission. And he can have you sent back to Beacon, if he find your skills to be unsatisfactory," Ozpin continued. After a brief pause where Ozpin started to walk away, he leaned back towards them and wished them good luck before actually walking away.

After Ozpin gave them their assignments and spoke to them, the two teams parted ways. After a few moments of walking in silence, Solaris spoke up.

"You know, that wasn't exactly the most uplifting thing I ever heard," she said, stretching her arms out across her torso.

"It is the truth though. Hunting the White Fang is going to be dangerous, especially their leader," Phil pointed out.

"Eh, we got this. After all, this isn't the 'everything went south' future. We can do this, and we'll have a full fledged huntsman helping us! I wonder who it'll be?" Jack queried. Just then, they saw team CFVY returning from their mission. Team CFVY had been missing for a week now, and they were currently being interrogated by team RWBY. They were just within earshot, and team JSPR overheard that the reason for their being gone so long was because of there being so many Grimm that they had to deal with. Velvet, the rabbit faunus of team CFVY, who was the one answering RWBY's questions, then tried encouraging them by saying that they would be fine because they were only shadowing huntsmen. The members of team JSPR all either shook their heads or rolled their eyes, respectively, before continuing on.

As they walked, Phil motioned for he and Jack to slow down and fall behind the girls of their team. Once they were just out of Raelin's range of hearing, Phil looked at Jack with a concerned expression on his face.

"Hey, they'll be fine, right?" Phil quietly asked. Jack looked at him, a questioning look on his face.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" Jack responded. Phil looked down for a moment, unsure.

"Eh, no reason. You're right. But, what about us? You heard about this Adam guy from your dad, right? Do you think that we really have a chance?" Phil asked, finally getting to what was actually bothering him. Jack paused to think for a moment, not sure of what to say.

"Yeah, I think so. We're only observing, right? And besides, we've got a full fledged huntsman on our side! So yeah, we should be fine," Jack replied, smiling confidently at Phil. Phil smiled back before looking ahead to Solaris, where his smile faded into a sigh. Jack noticed this.

"I guess you haven't asked her out yet?" Jack asked. Phil glumly nodded.

"I just... I don't want to hurt her, y'know? I mean, yeah, it's great to know that she likes me and all, but what if this doesn't work out? What if we do get together and she gets fed up with me, or decides that she doesn't like me as much as she thought she did? I don't know if I can really risk hurting our friendship like that," Phil said. Jack thought over what he said. Honestly, he's had very similar thoughts run through his head about him and Raelin. It took him a moment before he could give an answer... for the both of them.

"Honestly, it's your call. You know I'm rooting for you. But before you decide not to pursue her, I want you to ask yourself a very important question: which is worse? To date her, suffer heartbreak, and move on? Or to not take that chance, see her with someone else, and know that you had the opportunity and were too afraid to take it? If you can honestly answer that question, then you will know which path you should take. Just remember, you always miss 100% of the shots that you don't ever take," Jack said, quoting one of his favorite lines at the end. Phil thought over what he said for a moment, before nodding his head, his mind made up.

"Thanks Jack, I can always count on you for good advice. I think I know what I'll do now. I just need to wait for the right moment," he said. With that out of the way, the two guys sped up until they caught up to their team. Less than a minute later, they reached their destination, where they saw the bullhead that would take them into Vale. Emerging from it was the last huntsman they thought they would ever see for this. His graying black hair and tattered red cloak swayed in the breeze. His long tailed gray dress shirt and black dress pants appearing to have been slept in. His black dress shoes were badly scuffed and dirty from travel. Sunlight glinted off of his crooked cross necklace. His red eyes studied them intently as he took a long drink from his flask. Team JSPR stood there, jaws hanging loosely, too stunned to speak.

"You're late," Qrow Branwen said.

 **And that's a wrap! As I said up top, I had some personal issues going on, and by the time I got those taken care of, I was a bit intimidated to start back on writing, since I felt that I had lost my touch. But I finally got this out! I want to give a big thank you to Fatti-chan for being extremely patient with me. This author has been very understanding of my busy schedule of work, family, and church. Third shift really turns your life upside down. I also want to give a special thanks to Pygmanlion for letting me bounce ideas off of him/her for a story I want to do some time in the future. Probably after this story is complete, but maybe sooner if I can find the time and effort to do it alongside this and Link in Wanderland. It'll be a crossover of RWBY and Undertale, for anyone who's interested. Pygmanlion is also the one who gave me the idea for doing a side story about Roman and Neo solving cases together. I can only hope that I do well on it. Anyway, I am late for bed and I still have to put my laundry away. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully it was worth the wait!**

 **Oh, and to anyone wondering why Glynda and Ozpin didn't know about Jack being related to Weiss, it was because they had stepped away when JSPR was introducing themselves to RWBY.**


End file.
